The Story of the Charmless Export Model
by Prestwick
Summary: UPDATED 150905 Updated to incorporate changes suggested by the good people who posted comments! First two chapters cleaned and updated!A new UK Patlabor Unit and it's adventures in Japan. complete
1. The Story of the Charmless Export Model ...

The Story of the Charm less Export Model pt.1.

"Wills you got the target in sight yet?" Detective Chief Inspector (or DCI) Harry Gallagher mumbled into his radio as he fumbled with  
his Broadsheet paper and his on board TV monitor switch in his unmarked police car.

"No joy Guv" Detective Constable (or DC) George Williams said into his radio from his vantage point of the clearance area.

"Same here" said DC Kevin Gabben as he watched from an abandoned port-a-cab.

The three-man team watched the clearance area closely. The area was abandoned ever since the closure of one of London's major Dockyards.  
Rusting labors sat around the edges, silent, doing neither the good they were designed for, nor the bad that people had turned them into.

The Thames flowed silently by in the Docklands area of London, upstream would be Greenwich borough and from there, central London. Above  
the team stood Canary Warf, an achievement of financial prosperity over the struggles of the industrial classes over a decade ago. But  
these former storage areas proved to be great places for Terrorist groups to hide their stolen labor among the decommissioned ones.

With a signed order from the Home Office and the Department of Transport, the Environment and the Regions (or the Ministry of the world  
as it was nicknamed), Gallagher along with his men from the Transport Police Vehicle crime department had the power to confiscate and  
destroy any labor they found suspect.

Gallagher shifted in his seat as he read the paper. News of a further cut in interest rates by the Bank of England, Vickers MG Rover group  
forming further links with the Shinohara group and Mr. Blair to address EU delegates in Brussels over the issue of increased labor  
crime in Northern Ireland and Mainland Britain.

Yawning, he was one of those restless types who find it hard to get comfortable, his short, messy brown hair clashed with his working suit  
and brown overcoat. His weary, tired brown eyes scanned the paper as he waited.

"Guv, we've got something" Williams said as he watched.

As Gallagher looked up at the monitor, he heard the familiar piston powered 'thump' of two mechanised feet. Peering over his paper he   
saw a not so familiar silhouette of a Shaft industries labor, about 600-700 meters away, looking right down at the him in his car.

"Right, he's found us, all units move in, call in the troop" Gallagher said quietly as if the labor up ahead might hear him "switch to  
the new encrypted channels, I think our Irish friends have purchased a military labor"

Throwing the paper aside and starting the ignition, he noted that the Schaft had turned and had begun to cruise towards him. Shifting  
into reverse, Gallagher put the foot down and screamed away backwards.

"Gabben!" Gallagher said into the radio "when will the troop arrive?"

"They are upright now and moving in as we speak Guv"

"Well get them to get in close ASAP" Gallagher said back loudly "I think this one might be armed"

"Yes Guv"

Gallagher broke into a sweat slightly as he watched the Labor inch closer and closer, swinging the car around to face the right way, he started to   
test the labor in speed.

Well started, the slide it had taken made the car stall the engine. There was no time to re-start as the Schaft's shadow peered over  
the car's sunroof.

Grabbing his paper, Gallagher dived out of the car, expecting a huge metal foot to slam onto the car's roof. Instead he heard a great  
crash and a screech of metal against metal. As he looked up he noticed a Transport Police Gorilla (one of the two Patlabor models the UK Police  
owned) bundling the Schaft onto the floor.

"Troop 1 and 2 keep it up, take out the legs, I'll get uniform to apprehend the suspects when it's over" Gallagher said as he got back  
into the car and drove the short distance to police lines.

"Will do Guv" grunted one pilot as he handled his Gorilla.

"Guv" Williams said passing Gallagher a folder as soon as he got out of the car.

"Thanks Wills" Gallagher said, "you might want to arrange the arrest of the two RIRA suspects"

Williams nodded and paced away.

"And Williams" Gallagher said "tell uniform to get out of Riot Gear, it'll make no difference if they get squashed and we don't want  
to cause panic do we now"

"Yes sir" nodded Williams.

Gallagher opened the folder, bearing the crests of the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence marked "Defence of the Realm against  
Labour Crime"

He smiled and closed the folder again after just reading the cover sheet.

The 'scuffle' between the Schaft Model 19-transport labour and the two Gorillas was going pretty well for the Police as they wrestled  
it to the ground, breaking the leg joints of the Schaft labour as the lead pilot signalled the all clear.

"Right arrest the bastards in there and get them out of here, I want forensics here on the double" growled Gallagher as he coughed,  
rubbing his hair.

"Area cleared Guv" Gabben said as he ran up "don't forget, you've got the meeting with.."

"Yes, yes I know the Chief Superintendent of the Transport Police London section, and am I looking forward to it?"

"No Guv" grinned Gabben

"I'll meet you down the pub for a pint afterwards, just get these RIRA gits to Special Branch for their debrief"

"Sure Guv"

"I heard your operation was a success" the Chief Superintendent said as he read the memo given to him "and now Scotland Yard really want  
to expand and create a London based Transport Police Patlabor Unit?"

"Seems so Sir" Gallagher nodded, closing the folder again "Blair gave it his blessing in private and in his speech"

The CS smiled "well you're lucky, the UK government investing several Billion into creating a Patlabor force for the Met and the Army"  
he looked up "do you know who won the contract?"

Gallagher shook his head "I heard Kawasaki heavy industries was a close favourite with the Schaft Global and Hishii partnership not  
far behind"

"It's Vickers MG Rover"

"What?" blinked Gallagher "but they've never even designed a Labour before let alone a specialized Patlabor"

"Well it helps when Shinohara's on your side and in line for a merger" The Chief Inspector chuckled "Also ShinoHara wants the new Rolls  
Royce miniaturised Gas turbine power plant for its AP program"

"So what are we having then?" Gallagher asked "updated Gorillas?" he grinned.

The Chief Inspector passed Gallagher a photo, he blinked in surprise.

"Ingrams?" he said "but I thought there were only two made?"

"Well yes and no" the Chief Inspector said "I'll explain it further later but basically, Shinohara helped MG Rover with the construction   
techniques and Vickers with the actual design process, hence why it looks similar to the AV-98, but there are major differences, the back  
and the front are bulkier"

"That's the Gas Turbines right?"

"Wrong, the MGT power plants are still in development" the CS corrected "Instead Rolls Royce designed a special Diesel Electric design,  
similar to the Paxman Valencia V-12's on the old Intercity 125's (High Speed train of the 1980's and 90's) it's balanced on the back  
and extra armour had to be placed on the front to stop it from falling on its face" he then explained.

"why the engine change?"

"Simple" the CS said "our electric systems are incompatible and the army wanted the capability to use it anywhere that had petrol or  
diesel so the MOD won that one and hence us coppers have to pollute when we apprehend now"

"Which explains the up gunned weapon"

"One high powered 120mm gun, as used on our Challenger II tanks"

Gallagher blinked "erm, I don't think we'd be able to use such a weapon in civilian areas sir, if you gave us the more suitable Shinohara inhouse  
model that our Ingram counterparts use then I'd sleep better tonight"

The CS nodded with a smile "Well this is what I've been reading in the report, the Rover chaps up in the Longbridge plant still haven't   
got the final model completed"

"So why are you telling me this now sir?" Gallagher asked, leaning back a bit.

"You and the rest of the department are being booked to Tokyo, Japan for the Labour International Trade Expo next week"

"And what are we meant to do there?" Gallagher said with a grin "I trust you'll have something for us to show"

The Chief Superintendent nodded "yes, one Fairfax mk.1 Patlabor"

"That's the name of it?" 

"Yeah, Vickers MG Rover was put under pressure to make sure it bore some links with the past, so they named it like that"

"Exciting" Gallagher sighed.

Gallagher left the office in a sweat, this was going to be the Transport Police's big chance, and he turned with a grin round the corner  
to see Williams and Gabben sitting down, drinking coffee.

"We were told to wait for you Harry" Will's said, standing "what's happened"

"We got a new Gorilla?" Gabben said with a sarcastic smile, his small form shaking as he stretched with fatigue of the previous op.

Gallagher simply kept up the grin as he held up the photo given to him by the CS.

The pair's eyes went wide.

"An Ingram?"

"Nope a Fairfax mk.1, the department's new baby"

The pair studied the photograph and nodded in agreement "pretty good for a first labour eh Guv?"

"We need to get ready as well, we're being shipped off to Japan for pressing the flesh duties, just make sure you have your warrant card  
and badge ready for tomorrow"

"What for?"

"Shinohara have got a research and training model down at RAF Brize Norton, they were going to re-acquire the Airship hangers near Bedford  
but the Hangers at Brize Norton could take the training pod...just from what I heard"

"And we're being trained?" Williams blinked.

"But we haven't piloted a Labor Since 1996!" Gabben protested "and you expect us to pick up operating an Ingram just like that?".

Gallagher shook his head "We're still the investigating officers, we just need a new mechanical crew and a Jockey to pilot the Fairfax"

Both Gabben and Williams sighed in relief.

"Well, meet up tomorrow, 9am at RAF Farnborugh. You'll be wanting to go to the QinetiQ research hangar" Gallagher said as he paced off.

The RAF Regiment guard checked the passes of the two policemen at the main gate "go to parking and transport area 3 and await your escort"

"Yes sir" nodded Williams as he drove in and parked outside the Guardhouse. And there standing against the wall, looking around with a frown  
on his face was Gallagher.

"Guv!" Said Gabben from his window with a grin "you're early"

"Yeah, had to come down to greet our engineering staff and the design team behind the Fairfax"

"And why the face?"

"Because I'm cold and the base's heating shut down for repairs today that's why" grumped Gallagher "that and they've been finding problems with the new Rolls Royce Gas turbines"

"What are they faulty?" Williams asked.

"No they work quite well, managed to get 20 extra performance out of them" Gallagher said, trying his lighter then sighing in exasperation as he threw it away when it refused to light "the problem is that the engines are too heavy, if there isn't a counter weight on the front of the Fairfax, it'll simply fall on it's arse if hit"

"And this is going to be the frontline unit for the Army and Police?" Gabben said as he rubbed his head.

"I know, I know but they've asked BAe to come in and sort out the weight distributions" Gallagher muttered "and I know for a fact the government has gotta pay a bit extra, like last time"

Gallagher lit up a cigarette finally from an old mouldy box of matches he had in his coat. Looking up he nodded "here come area command and the Minister" he said as he saw the unmarked cars drive past the trio and onto the test hangar "probably looking to see this for themselves, the press are already here somewhere in the base"

"You think they would want the new Fairfax model?" Williams said as he lit up his cigarette.

Gallagher shook his head "If they had the chance, they'd listen to their accountants and choose the cheaper Schaft models but if the government wants to promote British industry and use it as a vote winner then let em'" He said, looking up as a man with a white mechanics overalls walked quickly up to them.

"They want you in the testing hanger please" the man said.

"You are?" Gallagher asked.

"Sergeant Daniel McVallaned or Macca for short" he smiled, holding out a hand "Head of the mechanical assistance team or the mechanics"

Gabben blinked in surprise at the McVallened "you're a mechanic?"

"Well yes but I like to keep smart, keeps the brass happy when possible and you can get by when you have the gloves on with clean overalls " Macca grinned as he turned.

"So how is the Fairfax shaping up then?" Gallagher asked.

"Okay but we have a couple of serious problems" Macca said rubbing his head with a tissue.

"Such as?"

"Rolls Royce, as they couldn't get the Gas turbines ready, fitted a couple of the new industrial deisel engines that Brush make instead."

"So what is the problem?"

"And, well the Paxman's weigh allot more than the Rolls Royce Ouse V-12's so we have a very serious weight problem now" Macca said.

"How serious?" Williams asked.

"You'll see in a minute" Macca said as he opened the door on the Hangar entrance for Gallagher and co to go through.

Williams grinned when he saw the Fairfax, standing in all its glory, head only inches away from the roof of the tall aircraft hangar. The bloated chest and back areas showing where the extra armour had gone to balance the Patlabor out. Around the grey, unmarked Fairfax was a massive ring of reinforced Kevlar airbeds, probably to make sure that if the Fairfax fell, no damage would come to it.

"Stabilisation test number 53 underway" A voice said over the tanoi.

"We'd better get to the control room here" Macca said. They entered the small side room. 3 Engineers, one Vickers MG Rover, one Shinohara  
engineer and  
one BAe engineer were sitting at the remote controls of the mk.1.

"I'm back mates" Macca said "say hello to the blokes who are gonna be in charge of our baby"

The three made various and vague waving actions as they focused on their work.

"Move it forward one step" said the MG Rover tech.

"Leg depression 20 degrees" said a Shinohara tech.

"Structure...stable" said the Vickers tech.

"Good, make foot movement faster by 40" the MG Rover tech replied.

The Shinohara tech nodded and increased the speed of the leg as it raised into the air.

"Damn it's still unstable!" the Shinohara tech said suddenly.

"Bugger it!" the MG Rover tech spat as the Fairfax first wobbled, then toppled backwards onto the safety bed.

"Why won't it work?" the Vickers tech said as he clicked his neck "we tried everything to get those weight distributions right"

Macca stepped forward "may I put something forward?" he asked as wire cables righted the fallen Fairfax back up to a standing position.

The MG Rover tech sighed "you keep asking this and the answer is no, you're still a trainee for the Police"

Gallagher coughed "let him put his idea forward"

The Engineers looked at Gallagher as he smiled then at Macca as he stepped forward.

"Well here's the problem" Macca pointed at the diagram "the Fairfax is standing upright, no Patlabor, even the Ingram can be perfectly stable  
when totally upright"

"I don't really see how you can prove that" the Shinohara engineer said.

"Easy, after studying what modifications that the Tokyo Police SV2 Cheif Engineer Sakaki did to his Ingrams I could say that whenever they are  
raised they are tilted forward by at least 5 degrees for improved stability"

The Shinohara Engineer scratched his head "So what do you suggest?"

Macca pointed to the Chest section of the Fairfax "There, you can move that forward by about 12 degrees, that should do the trick"

"What about the added forward movement?" the BAe Engineer asked.

"Increase the movement dampers on the legs by 35" Macca mused "that will stop any increased movement"

The three engineers blinked first at Macca then at each other.

"Okay we'll give it a try" the Shinohara said grudgingly.

Macca smiled "good" then turned back to Gallagher and the other two.

"I need a fag break" Gallagher said "want to join me Macca?"

Macca nodded, following the DCI outside as he lit another cigarette.

"So they said you're a trainee?" Gallagher asked.

"Um yes Guv, the MG Rover tech brought me along to watch" Macca sighed.

"Where are you training by the way?" Gallagher said as he took a puff.

"Hendon, Vehicle and Labour maintenance unit" Macca replied "why?"

Gallagher gave the young man a card "I'll give your training officer a call, get your stuff together when you get home"

Macca's eyes lit up "You mean? But aren't you taking a risk?"

Gallagher chuckled a bit as he heard a cheer whip up from inside "Well mate, you do your homework and your advice paid off perfectly"

"Guv!" Williams said with excitement as he rushed outside "it's walking perfectly!"

"Brilliant" said Gallagher sternly as he turned back to Macca "when you're ready give me a call and I'll arrange transport to the airport to  
meet up with us"

"Yes Guv!" chimed Macca, virtually overjoyed.

"Oh yeah and Macca" Gallagher added.

"Yes?"

"Get rid of the suit, it doesn't go with your job"

Gallagher turned back to Williams "Well there goes our new Chief Engineer"

"What do we need now?" Williams said "the Fairfax is ready and it he's now on board.."

"A pilot, the Yard said that the Gorilla pilots were staying put"

"But we don't have any Ingram trained pilots around!" Williams said "with two days to go for the Trade show!"

"I phoned recruitment, it seems Transport Police's Chief Superintendent submitted several people to an exchange program last year" Gallagher said.

"And?" Gabben said as he walked out.

"We managed to get a hold of a trainee who had moved from Hendon's Fast Response Car training Unit to the Advanced Patlabor training programme at  
Waseda in Tokyo" Gallagher said, reading mainly from a load of scribbled notes "His name is PC Tim Trenchard"

"So he is the only British Patlabor Pilot to have handled an Ingram?"

"Seems so, was showing great promise with the Gorilla trainers as his Instructor noted in his reports" he strained a bit "Jesus Christ, can't the bloody translators at Admin sort out these foreign papers?" Gallagher ranted quietly.

"Seems like Guv's forgotten how to read again" smiled Williams.

"Either that or his contacts have fallen out"

"Oh ha ha!" muttered Gallagher sarcastically "Ah, it says that he is completing his mainstream training at Waseda and will join us at Tokyo" he  
looked around "all we need now is a controller and...wait where are Area Command?"

"No idea, they're not in the test hangar, maybe they're at the Officer's Mess or something?" Gabben offered.

Gallagher looked around before seeing a couple people with cameras run past up at the front of the hanger towards the doors.

"Heh, found the gits" Gallagher said as he walked off.

He turned the corner to see the Home Office Minister and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner about to hold a joint press conference. There were  
a multitude of press and camera crews for the BBC, ITN and Sky News among the couple of International News Agencies.

"Ah!" smiled the Commissioner "Detective Chief Inspector Gallagher has come to join us"

"Who is the man again?" the Minister said.

"He is the head of Transport Police Constabulary's Vehicle crime department" the Commissioner Explained as he took Gallagher aside.

"Now Gallagher, I want to say that nothing has been confirmed about the Patlabors that you are getting"

"Pardon?" Gallagher blinked "but Chief Superintendent Si-"

"He's been corrected directly from the Home Office" the Commissioner corrected "the Treasury is pushing to opt for either upgraded Gorillas or a Schaft model"

Gallagher looked at the Home Office minister who was currently answering questions of Asylum "they want to scrap the Fairfax?"

"Shinohara has agreed to convert the design to an export model" the Commissioner sighed "I'm sorry Gallagher but I don't know what to do, New labor wants to go the cheap way to a National labor Crime strategy"

"Leave it with me sir" Gallagher smiled "just let me do the talking"

The Commissioner opened his mouth to say a warning but then closed it again to form a small smile.

"I didn't hear anything" the Commissioner grinned.

Gallagher turned and walked over with the Commissioner to join the Minister.

"Ah!" the Minister smiled "Well Commissioner are you ready for the conference?"

"Erm DCI Gallagher will be speaking, I think it would be appropriate because he is the head of this new unit" the Commissioner smiled back pleasantly.

"Oh, okay, ladies and gentlemen may I introduce Detective Chief Inspector Gallagher, he is heading the new Patlabor unit" said the Minister "Well first  
question" he said turning to the reporters.

"Mr Haversly" asked a BBC reporter "can you tell us what Patlabor Mr Gallagher and his men will be in charge of?"

"Well at this time the details of such things are -" the Minister began then stopped abruptly as Gallagher stepped forward slightly.

"I can actually say that we have confirmed the specific type of Patlabor that will be used by Transport Police Constabulary" Gallagher said.

"I don't think she was speaking to y-" the Minister tried to hiss before an ITN Reporter shoved a microphone in between the two.

"Mr Gallagher can you tell us exactly who has won the lucrative Patlabor manufacture contract?" the reporter asked.

"I can, I can say that a partnership deal between Vickers Defence and MG Rover won the contract to build the UK's next generation Patlabor" Gallagher said with a grin, the Minister meanwhile was coughing and hacking really hard as though he was choking for a moment.

"And are you looking forward to working with the Vickers MG Rover partnership?"

"I am, I believe that the model they are developing in conjunction with Shinohara is a very capable and powerful machine and that I look   
forward to using them"

The cameras swung to the Minister who was white at this moment, with no clue as to how to resurrect the situation.

"Mr Haversly what do you have to add to this?"

"I erm...err..ahh" the Minister stammered.

"Come on Minister" Gallagher muttered "I thought bullshitting was a requirement of you lot these days"

The Minister just glared as he turned and walked off to his car with his personal assistant and Special Branch protection officer.

"Well may I thank you all for coming today, the demonstration is now over" the Commissioner began, nodding with a wide grin at Gallagher.

Gallagher smiled and turned to walk back to Williams and Gabben. Now all he needed was a pilot, a controller and a driver.

"Begin" shouted the referee, turning to run out of the arena as the highly scratched and battered shells of the training Gorillas faced each other.

"Right" said Trenchard as he leaned his Gorilla forward a bit "gotta get this right"

"You better!" barked Instructor Sakuma "Especially after you upended the last one!"

"Yes sir!" replied Trenchard sharply, beginning to focus as he stepped the Gorilla back a bit, trying to entice his opponent closer and towards him. His  
opponent tried to move in quickly to push Trenchard off balance but Trenchard was already turning.

He swung the bulk of the Gorilla round to the left roughly, nearly hitting the hard metal side of the cockpit as he managed (just) to step around  
the opposing Gorilla.

"Excellent use of gravity and weight!" Sakuma grinned as he steadied himself "just keep on the pressure!"

"Sir!" nodded Trenchard as he used the leaning angle of the Gorilla to add that extra momentum as he pushed forward hard into the back of the  
opposing Gorilla, using his weight to push it forward and down, effectively pinning the training labour.

"That's it, that's it!" Chuckled Sakuma with excitement as Trenchard strained to make sure he kept the pin in place.

"1...2...3!" counted Trenchard in his head before breathing a sigh of relief as the referee ran in and checked it all out. He waved a red flag signifying   
the training exercise was over.

Trenchard rubbed his chin a bit as he placed his Metropolitan Police training cap back on along with the blue training jacket (signified by light blue  
shoulder straps) as he walked out of the changing rooms. It had been one long year, 18 years old, having to learn Japanese at the deep end as well as  
do nightly complex Labor construction and mechanical coursework (also in Japanese), at first the pressure was unbearable. 

Now, after learning the language, he had managed to get on top of things, even managing to get basic training on the new AV-98 model. Soon training  
would be over and he would return to Britain and hopefully onto one of the Transport Police's few Gorillas.

"Ah well, sod's law would say I'd get dumped with a Fast Response Unit car again" he thought out loud in his native, East End tongue.

"What was that Cadet Trenchard?" said an old, gruff voice sternly behind him, making him jump.

"Captain Takeda!" Trenchard said, whirling round and smartly saluting.

"Heh, still have to wean you out of that English Salute eh Cadet" Takeda, the head of training staff at Waseda chuckled.

"Sorry sir, I can't shake it" said Trenchard as he put his arm down "did you want to talk to me about something?"

"Ah yes, we got a fax from Transport Police at Scotland Yard, then a letter for you" Takeda said "they've already got a placement for you" Takeda muttered handing the young Cadet a letter with the Metropolitan Police's logo on it.

Trenchard looked at it, scratching his short, dark blonde hair, as he looked the envelope over.

"Well open it" smiled Takeda.

"Yes sir, sorry" mumbled Trenchard as he opened the letter and read it. He blinked in extreme surprise.

"How was it?"

"They want me to join Transport Police's new Patlabor Unit!" Trenchard said, hardly containing his sudden joy "I'm their first pilot!"

"Congratulations Cadet!" grinned Takeda "I'll arrange for your 2 day leave"

"Leave?" asked Trenchard.

"Yes, you're to head to Tokyo in two days time to join your outfit in time for the Labour Trade Expo"

"I better get ready!" mumbled Trenchard to himself "permission to be excused sir" he said, saluting again.

"Granted, get ready!" replied Takeda as he saluted back "you'll need allot of rest!"

"Yes sir!" grinned Trenchard "of course, thank you sir!"

Takeda just smiled and turned to walk off as Trenchard held the large letter, opening it further he saw about 20 different forms with a yellow stick it note.

"Fill these out, they all date back to since you left for training last year. DCI Gallagher"

Trenchard slapped his head softly. This was going to be a long 2 days.


	2. The Story of the Charmless Export Model ...

Part 2.

"Anything in the mail?" Goto looked up as he poured some tea into his cup  
"anything mind numbingly exciting?" he sighed.

"More like mind numbingly boring" breathed Shinobu, adding to the sigh  
"there's a letter for you from HQ and a promo from LaborExpo" she  
then said handing Goto the large cardboard letter.

Goto looked at it, shook it a bit then put it up into the light.

"what's the problem?" Shinobu blinked "it's a simple A4 cardboard envelope"

"Nothings wrong, I just like treating these envelopes like Cereal boxes  
that's all"

"whys that?"

"You never know whether you've got the special prize, or some crappy plastic figure"  
Goto said with a smile as he took the letter (which was stapled to ten other   
documents) out and glanced over it "heh whatcha know I got the plastic figure"  
he grinned.

Shinobu just shook her head and looked down at the flyer above her current   
work.

"Say's here I've got a babysitting job" Goto mumbled as he read down the  
lines.

"Who with?" Shinobu asked, not looking up from a couple of orders she had to   
sign, "you think the Nagasaki Police got their labors?"

Goto looked up with a grin "oh just some people from Transport Police in the  
UK coming down"

This stopped Shinobu in her tracks. Goto got this job and not her?

"What?" was all Shinobu could manage.

"Vehicle Crime Department's first advanced Patlabor squad are coming down  
for the Expo so it seems the UK and our boys have joined for a PR exercise"  
Goto said, putting the document down "and I get to look after the actual squad"

"Thinking about it actually.." Shinobu said, looking away and at the notice board.

"Hey, hey" Goto blinked, yet in such a carefree manner "I'd say it was luck of the draw to get landed with this I guess" he shrugged "but its what we get paid to do I guess."

Shinobu stood and headed to the notice board "true, well I have a few inspections I need to do" she took the clipboard off of it's hook on the noticeboard, opened the hangar door and walked out to SV1's Patlabor hanger.

"Me too, talk to you later" Goto waved as he opened his draw to get his notes out of his desk.

About ten seconds later, Sakaki peered round the corner of the door "got a minute?"

"Sure do" Goto said as he waved over his tea to cool it down a bit "what's up?"

"Heh, just wanted to make sure you knew about the new maintenance regulations" Sakaki held up the new form  
"otherwise you're gonna have to do the checks all over again."

"Again?" Goto smiled as he took a sip from the tea "hah, not even worth the effort these days."

"You say that Goto but the amount of Military labors that keel over just because they haven't been checked and signed off properly" Sakaki noted as he got another bit of paper out "just got the letter about Transport Police, is it just the Chief Mechanic they're sending over?"

"Nah" Goto yawned a bit as he fumbled behind him for the box of cigarettes  
"We've got Detective Chief Inspector Gallagher, Detective Constable Williams   
and Police Constable Trenchard who are going to arrive here"

"Wait that's only three" Sakaki blinked.

"Pardon?"

"Three, the CO, his subordinate and the Forward pilot" Sakaki explained "no   
controller"

Goto raised an eyebrow as he read over the letter over again "oh, so you're  
right, heh maybe they have manpower problems."

Sakaki shrugged "perhaps your right, anyway is it okay if I take the Chief  
under my wing so to speak" Sakaki smiled "I haven't seen this much enthusiasm   
in a mechanical recruit for years."

Goto looked over the Chief, DS Daniel "Macca" McVallaned's career sheet.

"Hmm, promoted to Sergeant after week on leaving Hendon Training  
facility" Goto said, raising an eyebrow.

"He was destined for the UK's national crime squad by the sounds of it"  
Sakaki said "but when he expressed his love in Labors, by helping to repair  
a supposedly 'written off' labor when he revisited Hendon, they bumped him up  
to Sergeant and sent him back for a two month refresher in Labor maintenance"

Goto looked up with a smile "Well sure he's yours, but you can't keep him understand?"

Sakaki turned with a chuckle"I won't don't you worry"

Goto yawned as he propped a cigarette into his mouth and  
followed Sakaki out to the smoking lounge "geeze I think I need to visit my dealer  
again" he said as he looked down at his empty Lucky Strike cigarette packet.

"Don't you mean Tobacco shop?" Sakaki smiled as he walked in front.

"I like to play the rebel" Goto grinned.

"Hey!" Asuma said as he looked at the notice board "look what we managed to   
get holed up with"

"Wow, the UK's Vehicle Crime Unit is coming here?" Noa blinked.

"Wonder why they're coming all the way down here?" Ota shrugged as he drank   
some tea.

Asuma hummed to himself for a momment, reading down the list "hey you think any of them can speak Japanese?"

"Doubt it" Kanuka replied from the couch as she watched the weather "they're  
arrogant English, of course they don't speak Japanese"

"I'm sure they're not that bad Kanuka" Noa said thoughtfully.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they were though!" Ota snorted.

"How would you know! Noa glared "why don't we stop ganging up on them and  
give them a good welcome when they arrive hmm?"

"I'm fine with that" shrugged Kanuka.

"Me too" Asuma nodded.

Ota just glared back at Noa, thinking of saying something, then thinking better of it  
, he just nodded.

"Fine with what?" Shinshi smiled as he walked in and hung up his coat "cold  
but clear and sunny" he beamed.

"Oh about the UK Vehicle Crime Unit visiting for a week" Asuma said, handing  
Shinshi the notice.

Shinshi read "great, always wanted to go to England, maybe they could give  
me some tips eh?"

"See?" Noa said with a smile, motioning for the sheet "they can't be that  
bad" she said as she read down the people who were due to arrive.

Shinshi sat down on the other side of the couch and clicked his neck as he   
watched TV with Kanuka, Ota just went back to shining his shoes while Asuma  
went back to his newspaper.

"Hey wait a sec!" Noa blinked "the last name, sounds familiar"

"What name?" Asuma said as he read over the TV guide before handing it over  
to Shinshi who was motioning for it.

"PC Trenchard..that's it!" she smiled happily "he arrived a couple of months  
before I left Waseda!"

"Really?" Asuma blinked as he looked up "how come? He's a UK officer isn't   
he?"

"Yes but he was part of one of those part exchange thingies" Noa explained  
"I felt really sorry for him in the first few weeks, he really did look lost,  
him and his translation book" she giggled.

"What was he doing?" Ota looked around.

"Basic Labor operating, must've been in the Patlabor program" Noa shrugged  
"So I KNOW he can speak some Japanese" she smiled.

"Heh" Ota chuckled "sink or swim was it?"

"By the looks of it yes" Noa shrugged as she pinned the notice back up "he  
had a bit of a rough time at the start, being Ganjin and all"

"I could imagine" Asuma said as he read the rest of the paper.

"You think there could be some ulterior motive to all this?" Sakaki asked as  
he sat down in the smoking lounge with Goto.

"Such as?" Goto said as he lit up stretching a bit as he sat down.

"Well I know for a fact that the European Labor trade show is next month   
followed by several more major events much larger than LaborExpo here in Tokyo"  
Sakaki explained "maybe they are here for some other reason. Why not just send a civilian sales team to the Expo?"

Goto nodded "That I'm not entirely sure of. I've got my ideas as to why they're here too. Whatever reason maybe it'll have something to do on the whole focus on how we're handling this terrorist threat.

"Heck even some Senate Observer arrived to make sure that the Babylon Project was on course!" Sakaki chuckled.

"Well the Babylon Project is really the experiment that the world is  
watching right now" Goto replied "if all goes well, other cities might  
do the same, London for example when their flood barrier becomes obsolete in 2012"

"True, true" Sakaki nodded. They sat there for a moment, looking out of the  
window, out across the wasteland that was the landfill area. This quiet scene  
was interrupted however by the sharp, loud coughing of Shinobu as she walked  
into the Smoking area.

"I swear one of these days I'm going to die of lung cancer" Shinobu chuckled

Goto looked up and out of the door "what do you think about our British friends arriving here soon?"

Shinobu stood by the doorway, the sheer volume of smoke, tar and nicotine preventing her from making a decent entry "Law enforcement pure and simple" she said, arms crossed "why else send active police to Japan?"

Sakaki stood "hah! We could just spend all day here thinking conspiracy theories but I've got my checks to make" he headed off "I'll give you a call when everything is ready Goto."

"I'm just rebooting the OS now" said Asuma into the link with Noa.

"Okay" Noa replied as she looked over her status screen while dusting over  
the other controls.

"And..." Asuma said, hand hovering over the return key in the command car   
"update complete!" he said, tapping the return key to exit the set-up program.

"Good" said Noa as she slipped out of the cockpit having gone over it with  
some polish and a dust buster "Do you think it looks okay?" she asked looking a  
t Alphonse, her Alphonse.

Asuma smiled and nodded "yeah, she looks great", he looked over at the spare  
bay, normally packed full of spare parts on Sakaki's order, currently being  
emptied by the mechanical staff and being refitted for immediate use.

"Keep it going" Sakaki said to one of the Maintenance men as he waved in a  
large fuel truck halfway into the hangar. The crew of the truck jumped out  
and began connecting pipes to a newly placed temporary fueling station set  
in the spare bay in the E-pen type layout of the Labor Hangar.

"Wow" Asuma blinked "what's with the temporary fuel tank system Mr. Sakaki?"  
he asked.

"It's for the new Patlabor Asuma" Sakaki  
winked "and boy is it an ugly one!"

"But why the Diesel tanks?" Asuma asked "I As far as I know, our Labors run  
on battery power"

"Heh, this is the strange thing about it" Sakaki said turning once the fuel   
transfer had safely started "I hear the UK military was in on it too so it  
needed a more practical engine that could use all kinds of fuel so we're  
tanking this refelling unit up with cheap Red Diesel"

"So the Transport Police's new Patlabor is powered by a diesel engine?" Noa  
said as she stepped down from Alphonse "say, do you know what it looks like?"

"No idea" Sakaki shrugged "it was all made and assembled in the UK under the  
Vickers Defence MG Rover partnership, all I've been told is to install this pumping system  
that they dropped off at lunchtime" Sakaki said as he turned back to  
the work at hand."

"How's the conversion going Sakaki?" Goto shouted from the balcony of the  
office.

"Nearly done, the pumping equipment is all ready for use, the first UK   
Mechanics arrive tomorrow!" Sakaki shouted back.

"Very good, I'll get everyone together for a full briefing tonight" Goto  
yawned as he came down to do the checks.

After the checks were done, Goto returned to the office and fell onto his seat, he

checked the roster of people who were coming in the UK delegation tomorrow on his PC.

"Right, lets put this Interpol Co-operation treaty to the test eh?" Goto  
smiled to himself as he leaned back and entered the Interpol resource program,  
selected 'existing personnel' and typed in the search bar "DCI Harry Gallagher".

He quirked an eyebrow when the result came up. Born in Dundee, Scotland,  
joined Strathclyde Police for two years before entering their CID department  
as DC Gallagher. A year later he asked for (and got) a transfer into the  
former Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). From there after several more years   
he managed to get selected for the highly dangerous job of being a  
member of the RUC's Special Branch.

But that was where the file really ended. From his time in Strathclyde all  
the way to his days in the local RUC CID department, there was a string  
of successful operations, case summaries and arrests. But there was nothing  
for his time in Special Branch. After that it said he was moved to Transport Police.

Goto leaned back. "He has had quite a bit of experience under his belt" he  
mused "so why the lack of success?"

"How did the inspections go?" Shinobu asked as he opened the door.

Goto, wearily shaken out of his mindset looked up "Very good, managed to  
get Noa off of that labor wax kick"

Shinobu smiled "heh, I feel for her, she really has a love for these machines"

Goto thought for a second then said "Thats why I can get the best out of her."

Goto then went back to thinking about Gallagher "he must've done something" he  
thought.

"When are you going to brief your section about our visitors?" Shinobu   
asked.

"Well I put a notice up in the main room" Goto shrugged "I said I was going  
to brief them tonight"

The floodlights were on as the last of the Vickers MG Rover equipment  
arrived at SV2, Goto looked outside of the hanger before turning back to the  
assembled staff of SV2 (seated of course).

"Well you probably all know by now what's happening" Goto said as he peered  
down at the roster sheet, a large red question mark was next to Gallagher's name.

He looked over the staff "well I think the best thing to do would be to  
assign a guest to a group of you" Goto added.

Ota blinked "you mean you're dumping the babysitting job on us?"

"Well theoretically...yes" Goto said quietly "but anyway as there is only  
two people who will be paired off I'm gonna do it this way" Goto said as he   
raised the sheet up.

"Detective Sergeant McVallened and his team of Mechanics will be placed under  
Mr. Sakaki's control" Goto read "and finally PC Trenchard, as he is the only  
pilot they have at the moment, will be placed with Officers Izumi and Clancy"

Noa blinked and looked at Kanuka. Kanuka had a frown on her face, maybe she  
didn't want to coach another newbie? None the less she looked straight ahead.

"Officer Azuma will co-operate with Detective Constable Williams over   
advanced Labor command methods and..." Goto said as he looked down at his  
roster sheet "that's about it" he smiled faintly "any questions?"

"What about me sir?" Ota asked putting his hand up.

Goto took one, long look at Ota then smiled "just tag along I guess"

This nearly sent Ota off of his chair as Kanuka stood up "May I see you  
after the briefing sir?" She asked calmly.

"Sure" Goto shrugged "they will be touching down at Haneda tomorrow at 1pm so  
just look a little sharper than you lot usually are"

"What does he mean by 'usually'?" Shinshi muttered.

"Everyone dismissed!" Goto said as he picked up his tea and took a sip  
before walking to his office.

"So" Goto said as he leaned out of the window with a cigarette, the wind  
thankfully blowing the smoke and the smell away from the building "what did  
you want to talk about?"

Kanuka sighed "I've had some bad experiences with our colleagues in England  
and I don't feel that I would be able to get on with them"

Goto turned around "what makes you think that way?" he asked as he threw the  
cigarette out of the window after seeing Shinobu walk past the office door.

"We had one of these exchanges a couple of years ago when I was in the NYPD"  
Kanuka said "they were rude, dirty, very sexist and even on a couple of times  
racist" she straightened her tie "I was very angry that they were all let off  
with only a sending home"

Goto listened and sat down and looked up at her with a wry smile "you think  
all Brits are like that?" he asked "even the Scots?"

"Especially the Scots sir" Kanuka said then she stopped "no, I don't think  
that, that's just generalizing, I just had a rough experience with them that's  
all sir and I don't want to risk a repeat performance"

"Why do you think you were selected to look after PC Trenchard?" Goto said,  
leaning back on his chair.

"To make sure that him and Officer Izumi do not get into trouble?" Kanuka   
answered, the anger in her voice gone now.

"Well that yes" Goto said "the reason why I selected you and Officer Izumi  
and not Ota is because Izumi has the talent to influence Trenchard and you have  
the experience to teach him how to handle his Labor properly, like you did with  
Izumi ages ago" Goto explained.

Kanuka nodded.

"Now if you feel you can't stand to be near our British guests during their  
week's stay then tell me and I'll sort something out, but until then you are   
going to be assigned to that constable, do I make my self clear?" Goto said  
in his usual quiet manner but this time it was firm.

Kanuka nodded again "yes sir". She saluted, turned and walked to the office  
door.

"Oh Officer Clancy" Goto called.

"Yes sir?"

"When they do arrive, try and get on with them, give them a chance?"

Kanuka nodded, turned and walked out of the office.

Goto sighed as he looked over his desk. Fresh reports on the successful  
operations of Gallagher, he might have seen him before in days past.

"Hey Goto" Shinobu said as she walked into the office with two cups of tea  
"guess we're in for a nightshift tonight."

"Yeah" Goto said as he looked outside, the silence might've been deafening to a  
restless person.

"Anything wrong?" said as she put down a cup of tea on Goto's desk.

Goto shook his head "nope, just something about this whole British thing"

"How so?" Shinobu asked as she sat down "what makes you think that?"

"Well for a start they're meant to be over here to learn from us on advanced  
Patlabor tactics and to show off their new Labors right?" Goto said as he looked  
at yet another file.

Shinobu nodded.

"Then why have they fielded such an under strength team?" Goto asked "even their  
existing Gorilla team in London has two units with backups so why have we just got  
a Commanding officer, an investigating officer and two constables who are literally  
fresh out of the Academy?" Goto explained.

"Ask the Brass that" Shinobu shrugged "you know something is going on though"

Goto shrugged back and sipped his tea.

"Hey Nagumo could you pass the LaborExpo flyer from off of the notice board please"   
Goto asked. Shinobu shrugged and turned to unpin the flyer. 

"Even if there is something going on" Shinobu said as she walked over to Goto's desk and  
put the flyer down "It's probably in aid of a good cause"

"So why haven't they told us then?" Goto wondered out loud as he looked at the phone  
"I guess it wouldn't hurt if I gave Gallagher a call and asked him up front?"

"It's up to you" Shinobu said as she sipped her tea.

Goto didn't say anything as he looked blankly down at the phone.


	3. The Story of the Charmless Export Model ...

Gallagher sat in his Office, he looked down at his watch. 10 o'clock in the morning, if they leave in an  
Hour for Heathrow they should get loads of time in the Club World lounge he thought to himself with a   
smile.  
  
Williams opened the door and poked his head in "We're all ready to go Guv, Macca has arrived along with   
all the documentation that MG Rover gave him"  
  
Gallagher nodded "Okay, have a break, we've got an hour before the minibus arrives" he thought for a   
moment "ah could you get me a tea, two sugars please"  
  
Williams nodded and bowed out of the office. Gallagher yawned as he looked down at the pile of files   
in front of him, all of it dedicated to the new Labor Policeing strategy and their objectives in going  
to Japan.  
  
Apart from showing off the new Fairfax, why else were they there? SV2 were of course the god like   
authority of Labor policing but if that was the case why rush him in with a very understrength squad?  
  
He sighed and read over the very vauge Home Office objectives for the strategy for this and next year.   
Apart from a whole network of 25 Fairfax Patlabors positioned at key ports and industrial areas of Great  
Britain, there really wasn't much else that warranted such trumpeting by the Prime Minister.   
  
He shrugged and pulled out his Guardian and opened it. He was disturbed from his reading by the sudden  
ringing of the phone. Looking at his with another sigh he picked it up.  
  
"Transport Police, Vehicle Crime Unit, DCI Gallagher speaking" He said as he looked down at the headlines,  
IRA deny reports that they have training overseas groups, Bank of England declare Inflation well within 2.47%  
target and last British Troops le-.  
  
"Ah hi" said a very oriental, yet incredibly fluent voice in English "This is Captain Goto of   
Special Vehicles division 2"  
  
Gallagher blinked "oh hi, you just caught me in time, we're leaving for the airport in about an hour"  
  
"Good, good" Goto replied "may I ask you a couple of questions, I need a more clearer picture of your  
history in the police for my...report"  
  
"Well it's all in the Interpol file database Captain, I don't see why you need to talk to me" Gallagher  
said, eyes narrowing a bit as he listened.  
  
"I know, it's just that there are a couple of 'holes' during your stay with Special Branch in Northern  
Ireland, nothing serious I just don't know what you did there" Goto explained.  
  
Gallagher thought for a second. What was he up to?   
  
"Oh" Gallagher chuckled "well it was really investigation work, compiling material for major operations"  
he said "although I did take part in a couple of major operations" he added quietly.  
  
"What kind of operations?"  
  
"I would tell you but I can't tell a soul, Official Secrets Act you see" Gallagher explained.  
  
"Oh okay" Goto said.  
  
"Listen, do you have anything on your end about all of this?" Gallagher said.  
  
"I was going to ask you the same question" Goto replied "a 3 man team isn't very big"  
  
"It would've been a full squad if Area Command hadn't have vetoed my request for a   
controller" Gallagher said with an exasperated sigh "Do you have any idea what's going on?"  
  
"Nope" Goto said with a chuckle "but that's half the fun of being in the police isn't it?"  
  
This took a couple of seconds to filter through into Gallagher before he chuckled down the  
phone "Yeah, that's true, do you think it's got something to do with the end of the Interpol  
mandate in Japan at the end of this week?"  
  
"I think that has something to do with it, don't be suprised if you're met by one of your  
guys at the airport" Goto joked.  
  
"Yeah sod's law for you there" Gallagher chuckled back.  
  
"Pardon?" Goto asked, puzzled.  
  
"Oh nothing" Gallagher said quickly "so what else do you want to ask me? I've got time"  
  
"I get straight to the point then shall I" Goto replied "I wanted to know the capability  
of the dissident republican movements have in training foreign terrorist groups"  
  
"Let me guess, like the World defense army?" Gallagher smiled on his end of the phone.  
  
"Bingo" Goto yawned.  
  
Gallagher thought for a moment then spoke "well the last time I was in Special branch in Ulster,  
Omagh had just happened, I think more or less while they wern't making bombs themselves, they were   
overseas in Palestine or Columbia training groups there in bomb making such as public rubbish bin bombs  
or suitcase bombs like those used in the Birmingham pub bombings" he explained "I would hazard a guess  
to say that they might be responsible for training the WDA as well".  
  
"uh-huh" Goto said as he noted something down on paper, "tell me about the rubbish bin bombs you   
mentioned?"  
  
"Well the bomb has to be tailor made for the target bin, say like the one that went off in Oxford Street  
in London years ago, that was designed to fit through the tight hole where the rubbish goes in" Gallagher   
said, thinking off of the top of his head.  
  
"And?"  
  
"It works like this, one man stands watch for CCTV and coppers while the other eats a burger or something,   
mingles the waste with the bomb and inserts it into the bin before walking off in the opposite direction   
of the watchman" Gallagher added "very clever when you think about it"  
  
Goto raised an eyebrow, this man knew his stuff (apparently).  
  
"I have a good idea now in what I want you to do when you get here" Goto said, a small smile forming.  
  
"Which is?" Gallagher asked, slightly confused.  
  
Goto leaned back "well I get the feeling if we paly our cards right we can end up with a PR coup on our  
hands"  
  
"Come again?"  
  
"Well look at it this way Gallagher" Goto said "LaborExpo is comming up, the Worlds most important   
tradeshow, the Japanese government hosting it in conjunction with the Babylon Project Development corporation,   
every major manufactuer and their mom is gonna be there"  
  
"Yes" Gallagher said, still a bit confused.  
  
"Now I'm reasoning that your guys and the Americans were running around here for the last month or   
so in a bid to discourage any 'partisan action' so to speak" Goto continued "besides nobody wants this   
to end in tears do they?" Goto added "especially you guys"  
  
"That's true" Gallagher nodded.  
  
"So I think a republican group is going to push along regardless and help the WDA to do a bomb,   
this is where you come in"  
  
"Me?" Gallagher blinked "why the bloody hell me!?"  
  
"You're our official Anti-terroist mascot!" Goto grinned down the phone "you join with my people and   
investigate what's happening, stop the bomb, making it high profile in the media as well"   
  
"And SV2 along with the Vehicle Crime Unit get showered in glory" Gallagher added, finally catching on.  
  
"Exactly!" Goto said, not really getting excited but his voice complementing Gallagher for finally   
getting the point.  
  
"This way SV2 benefits, the Vehicle Crime Unit benefits, both our governments are spared embarrasment,   
Vickers MG Rover benefits, Shinohara benefits and of course the public benefits as a result" Goto   
finnished.  
  
"Well I have to hand it to you, you are quite a thinker. So what will you do while all this is going   
on?" Gallagher chuckled.  
  
"Erm.." Goto thought for a moment "think..maybe smoke?"  
  
There was a loud cough as Shinobu heard that remark.  
  
"What was that?"" Gallagher blinked.  
  
"Oh just Captain Shinobu, just recovering from a sore throat" Goto grinned as he looked over at Shinobu   
as she glared back at him "she shouts too much, very nasty" he added with a shallow grin as he ducked   
from several crunched up balls of paper thrown at him by Shinobu.  
  
Gallagher chuckled "Ah well I'll leave you two in peace, see you in 23 hours or so"  
  
"Looking forward to it" Goto said "bye".  
  
****  
  
The Minibus to Heathrow was like most journeys in London these days.   
  
Gridlocked.  
  
Williams had spent most of the journey jotting notes on Patlabor management and thumbing through   
official training manuals. Macca just had the earphones of an MP3 player stuck to his ears like  
some weird alien had taken him over, he nodded slightly to the music as he read an edition of Loaded.  
  
Gallagher though (having trying to but failing to get into reading his Guardian) just looked out   
of the window, looking at the mess of cars and lorries stuck in the neverending jam to one of   
London Heathrow's 5 terminals.  
  
"You'd think they'd improve the roads now they're propsing a sixth terminal" Gallagher muttered   
to himself as they finally hit the drop off point for their passenger terminal.  
  
After getting everyone and the bags out, they headed for the check in desk.  
  
"Good Morning Sir" beamed the British Airways woman.  
  
"We're here for the 12:30 to Tokyo" Gallagher said, fumbling for his passport and the tickets and  
nodding for the others to follow suit.  
  
The BA woman looked down at her computer then looked back up "May I have the tickets please?"  
  
Gallagher nodded and handed them over. The lady gave them all the once over before handing them   
over intact.  
  
"Sir you were electronically booked in about half an hour ago" the lady said with a smile "you were  
also upgraded to our 'First' serivice on the plane"  
  
"What?" Williams blinked.  
  
"You sure?" Gallagher said suspiciously "did anyone leave a message?"  
  
The lady looked at her screen "nope" she shook her head as she handed over the First class lounge   
tickets, then pressed baggage tags onto the cases "hand these to the receptionist at the front door   
and she'll let you in, have a nice flight" she said after sending the cases off into the abyss of   
the baggage control system.  
  
Gallagher just looked down at the tickets for a moment, then shrugged.  
  
"Thanks" he smiled roughly as he and the rest of the group turned and walked off.  
  
"Wow that's a turn for the books eh Guv?" Macca grinned as he looked at his ticket, treating it like  
one of Willy Wonkas Golden tickets.  
  
"I know" Williams added "but who the hell upgraded us Guv?"  
  
"Don't know" Gallagher shrugged "but I have an idea though" he said with a smile "shall we give WH Smith   
a miss and get our magazines from the lounge?"  
  
****  
  
They entered the lounge, Gallagher gave his ticket to the Receptionist who processed it on her computer.  
  
"Sir" she said "I've been told someone has reserved drinks for you"  
  
"Really?" blinked Gallagher.  
  
"Yes, on the second floor in the main bar, I'll tell the Barman you're comming"   
  
They climbed the stairs and entered the main bar. The windows faced onto the main runway, but were triple  
glazed so that engine noise would not disturb the careful buisness meetings and relaxation taking place   
here. The seats were in blue and had a kind of Union Flag pattern on it which definatly gave you an idea   
which national carrier you were flying. The carpet was a darker blue while the actual bar was built like a   
traditional Victorian establishment. Big, strong and polished oak only added to the sense of affluence as  
a smartly dressed Barman pumped three pints of beer (real ale becoming highly fashionable with the   
nuvou riche these days).  
  
"You DCI Gallagher?" the Barman said in a discreet tone, but (as with the rest of the staff) with a smile.  
  
"That's me" Gallagher said flipping open his wallet as if he was paying, but really he was showing his   
warrant card to them.  
  
"Ah brilliant" the barman said "that bloke there in the black suit has bought you the drinks, wants   
you to meet him asap if possible sir" he added pointing to a man sitting with his back to the four,   
looking out of the large buildings as a Concorde made it's graceful (if terribly loud) take off.   
  
His hair was dark brown (although it was greying somewhat) and added to his almost aneamic white   
skin colour.  
  
"Okay, cheers for the pints by the way mate" Gallagher said as he looked to Williams and Macca "You   
two may as well enjoy the hospitality"  
  
The pair looked at each other and shrugged as Gallagher walked over to the table where the   
gentleman was sitting and looked down at him.  
  
The man looked up "ah Inspector" he smiled "how was the traffic?"  
  
"Bloody awful" Gallagher said as he sat down "so you're the one who paid for us then?"  
  
The man grinned and nodded "I did indeed Inspector allow me to introduce myself" he said as he   
handed Gallagher his card.  
  
"Sir Andrew Ramsgate, special adviser to the Foreign Secretary and Cheif in the Foreign and   
Commonwealth Office" Gallagher read aloud "nice job".  
  
"Well it is and it isn't, depends on whether it's election year or not eh?" Sir Andrew chuckled.  
  
"So what do I owe the pleasure of a Civil Servant knocking on my proverbial door?" Gallagher asked,   
leaning back.  
  
Sir Andrew looked over at Williams and Macca "Hmmm, that's your team?"  
  
"Yes, I would've picked a full one but Area Command said I could only take 2 along" Gallagher sighed.  
  
"Ah" Sir Andrew said "thats what you get when you get the Home Office involved"  
  
"Really now?" Gallagher said, eyebrows perking up "who else has been walking this path then?"  
  
Sir Andrew thought for a second "well I first had a call from the Home Office wondering if I could   
liase with my counterpart in Tokyo in a possible exchange program in Police forces" he said counting   
on his fingers "then I had a rather paniky call from the MoD (*Ministry of Defence*) wanting me to   
again get in touch with Tokyo chambers of industry over the Shinoara contract and whether the Police   
models would delay the construction of their Army Labours"  
  
Gallagher watched, very interested at all of this.  
  
"Then Trade and Industry got in touch to find out what the hell was going on about the Home Office's   
announcement to cancel the Vickers MG Rover Patlabor contract, then finally a call straight from Downing   
Street that the Foreign Office was to take charge in the future deployments of Police and special branch   
accross the world" Sir Andrew added.  
  
"Hence why the Home Office is making it so difficult?" Gallagher asked.  
  
Sir Andrew nodded "yes, it's been a very hectic week" he sipped some of his drink and took out a plastic   
A4 holder "here is why you're really going to Japan"  
  
Gallagher leaned in with interest.  
  
"Over the last month, several Japanses heavy industry companies (Shinohara included) have been getting   
warnings from the WDA and other unidentified groups to "Stay away" from the LaborExpo next week" Sir   
Andrew began "Tokyo Metropolitan Police would like some expert help on this"  
  
"But sadly the mandate for all our police over there ends today" Gallagher said with a wry smile.  
  
"Indeed, so really you're going to be the only team out there" Sir Andrew said quietly "This is   
the twist, this is going deeper and deeper than what we origionally thought, the materials and   
methods that the WDA are using are far more complicated than the very simplistic time bombs that   
they deployed a couple of years back" he said as he handed the A4 wallet over.  
  
Gallagher took the twelve A4 sheets out and looked at them, 6 were photos of bomb explosions in a   
variety of places, high streets, city centers and other civilian places. The other 6 were reports   
of the scene. Gallager just looked the photos, turning them over several times.  
  
"Well Inspector what do you make of it?" Sir Andrew said.  
  
"Well from placements of the bombs in photos 2,4 and 5 I can say that they were placed in a   
plastic bag next to rubbish bins after they could'nt fit them inside without causing too much   
attention. No nails or packed shards of metal just pure Semtex" Gallager muttered "classic Provo   
bomb" he said.  
  
Sir Andrew blinked "so you're confirming our suspicions?"  
  
Gallagher nodded "yep, although they are very amateur, they couldn't have been done without proper   
instruction"  
  
Sir Andrew sighed "well this is the new mission" he said as he took out a couple of files "two   
convicted Republican terroists are belived to be in Japan right now, they came into the country using   
fake British Passports"  
  
He looked at the two files "hey I recognise these two" Gallagher smiled "Dougie O'Tool and Terry   
Arnwell, both sent down for membership of IRA and conspiricy to cause explosions in 1999 for a sting   
of attacks on London"  
  
"Well you're objective is to stop them from disrupting the LaborExpo and if possible arrest them,   
you have full juristiction to arrest them under British law" Sir Andrew said as he gathered his stuff   
"now if you excuse me I need to get back to my office, I probabbly have a ton of work to get through   
now, I'll leave the casework with you okay"  
  
Gallagher shrugged as he finnished his pint "sure mate no problem"  
  
And so Sir Andrew left. As soon as the Civil Servant left Williams and Macca walked over to Gallagher's   
table and sat down.  
  
"What was all that about?"  
  
Gallagher just grinned widly with a deep chuckle as he rubbed his hands "We're back in it!"   
he said with glee.  
  
Macca looked at Williams with a very confused face.  
  
Williams smiled "Guv's got another NI case, its the closest he can get to being in Northern Ireland   
these days"  
  
Gallagher looked behind him "Common you lads, finnish your drinks we have a plane to catch!" he   
said as he strode off.  
  
****  
  
It was an hour later and Goto was still sitting in his chair looking out of the window.   
The evening was quite chilly, autumn rolling in with the arctic winds comming from the north.   
The barren conditions of the landfill area only making weather conditions worse.  
  
He sighed as the wind batted the rickety windows "you'd think they would install some double   
glazing in this place" he said out loud.  
  
Shinobu nodded "it gets very annoying I can tell you" she replied looking down at her watch   
"they should be heading for Tokyo now"  
  
Goto nodded, saying nothing as he looked out of the window, something is happening.  
  
This wasn't because of some strage preminition that his intuition had recived suddenly, but   
because he could see headlights in the evening as it drew into nightime. Maybe it might be   
some plucky game show man going to visit those unfortunate enough to spend evenings in the   
middle of nowhere.  
  
Then he yawned as the car got closer, maybe it was just HQ informing him of his duty again.   
He rubbed his head and slipped on his sandles.  
  
Shinobu herself looked outside, she shuffled some paper into a neat little pile. Her table   
seemed to be littered with many neat little piles as she filled out several reports.   
  
"Who do think that is?" she asked.  
  
"No idea" Goto said "Anyone order a taxi?"  
  
Shinobu gave Goto a wry smile "come on, come clean Goto you know who that is, I mean who else   
has those kind of cars?"  
  
"The car company?" Goto offered, quirking an eyebrow.  
  
Shinobu rubbed the back of her head "no government ministries that's who!" she said in an   
exasperated voice.  
  
Goto looked out of the window, two people were getting out, they looked to be in suits and   
long overcoats as the entered via the side entrance.  
  
The pair waited at their desks as the sound of footsteps climbing stairs grew louder. Then   
the pair came through the doorway. Shinobu stood immediatly, throwing an immediate glare at   
Goto who was at best quite slow to rise to the new visitors.  
  
"Ah you don't have to stand" said the first new visitor as he rubbed his hands to dispell the   
cold from outside "allow me to introduce ourselves, I am Mizuki Ayhagami, secretary to the   
Minister of the Interior and this is my minder Bhatou"  
  
"Pleased to meet you Mizuki" Goto smiled "so is this visit meant for both of us or?"  
  
Mizuki looked over at Shinobu who then looked at Goto. Mizuki looked back at both of them   
before saying.  
  
"Nah your colleague is okay" Mizuki smiled turning to Bhatou "B, take five okay?"  
  
The tall, almost skin headed minder looked down and nodded before turning, almost hitting the   
top of the doorframe before ducking.  
  
Mizuki took a seat near the end of the room and got a couple of A4 packets out of his bag,   
throwing one to Shinobu and the other to Goto.  
  
"What's in these?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"They're dossiers kindly provided by the British Embassy in Tokyo on two highly dangerous   
terrorists" Mizuki said as he took out a packet of ciggarrettes. Shinobu's face nearly   
went red with indignation as the Civil Servant sparked up in her office, this brought a grin   
to Goto's face.  
  
"I'm sorry I ran out of ciggarettes earlier you think you could give me one" Goto said,   
trying his luck as he looked over at the quietly fuming Shinobu.  
  
Mizuki shrugged "sure" he said before throwing his lighter and a cig over to Goto.  
  
"So what exactly does this have to do with us then?" Shinobu asked after getting over the   
initial shock.  
  
"Well LaborExpo is going ahead despite repeated threats by the World Defense Army that they   
would disrupt it and so we decided to use the foreign police in the city to help crack down   
on them. But when the last Special Branch officer left Japanese soil these two came in via   
Osaka" Mizuki explained, showing them two CCTV images of O'Tool and Arnwell.  
  
"And so this is the real reason why the Transport police are comming to Tokyo?" Goto asked,   
raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Well no actually they were comming here for a training exercise but as soon as Japanese   
immigration detected these two slip through the proverbial net, they were the only people   
available that had any Anti-Terrorist experience with Northern Ireland groups"  
  
Goto and Shinobu looked at each other for a second.  
  
"The new British Patlabor has landed via an RAF Galaxy at an undisclosed Air Base near Tokyo"   
Mizuki smiled "it should be here in about an hour, it's owners will be here by 9am tomorrow,   
you're due to meet them at Haneda Airport when they land at 0830" Mizuki added "your mission   
though is to stop any disruption to LaborExpo at any costs and arrest those two Irish   
Terrorists"  
  
Goto nodded and noted something down "Well we'll be happy to wait for the patlabor" he smiled.  
  
Shinobu blinked "Is this just SV2's responsibiliy?" she asked.  
  
Mizuki nodded "yes SV1 will be on standard duty as usual while SV2 will do this assignment"  
  
Shinobu simply leaned back while Goto looked up "That wraps it up then?" he asked.  
  
"Yes" nodded Mizuki as he got up, still swanning his ciggarette about "just remember  
to pick up DCI Gallagher and co at Haneda you hear?" He smiled as he turned "Bhatou" he  
called "we're leaving"  
  
"Good Evening" Chimed Goto as he threw his cig out of the window. Then he leaned back,  
a heavily relaxed smile crossing his lips.  
  
"You little bastard!" Shinobu fumed as the car drove away and out of the grounds.  
  
"What?" Goto blinked "I was only trying to get the man comfortable"  
  
Shinobu just stood and turned to walk out "taking advantage of that just to further your  
damn lung disease" she muttered as she walked out.  
  
"Oh come on, I didn't mean it that way!" Goto said, still perfectly balanced on his chair  
as she slammed the door.  
  
****  
  
Asuma shuddered as the door slammed above them, he sat on the couch watching TV with Kanuka and  
Shinshi (who had his turn in reading the paper). Noa was somewhere else while Ota had pulled the   
short straw and had taken the journey to the nearest supermarket to pick up some food and other   
stuff.  
  
"Hmm, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is on tonight" Shinshi mumbled as Kanuka just sat there   
contently watching the news.  
  
"Well they arrive tommorow" Asuma said with a sigh as he looked up to the ceiling "wonder what all   
that door slamming above was about?"  
  
"Shinobu probabbly caught Goto smoking in the office again" Kanuka said with little interest.  
  
"Then again so is Battle Royal" Shinshi mumbled.  
  
"You sure?" blinked Kanuka.  
  
Shinshi looked for a moment at the program description "no, it's wrestling"  
  
Asuma did a fake shiver "I hate those programs!" he said with almost real disgust "you can tell   
that they're faking it all the time"  
  
Kanuka shrugged and looked behind her "where's Noa?"  
  
Asuma looks at Kanuka "no idea".  
  
"Hey Sailor Moon Super S is on tonight" Shinshi grinned, he then frowned when Asuma and Kanuka   
stared at him for a moment "What?" he asked.  
  
Noa stood on the stairs, watching one of Sakaki's men wave in the unmarked Labor transport truck.  
A curious look grew on her face as the covers were pulled off of the truck, exposing the Patlabor,   
blinking when she instantly recognised it.  
  
"S..so this the Faifax then" she said to herself as the maintenance crew, already used to  
working daily on the similar Ingram, slowly eased the Fairfax into the spare docking bay, connecting  
up the electric and fuel links to the rear.  
  
The Mk.1 Fairfax for all it's similarities with the AV-98 Ingram, was itself was quite a unique machine,   
the existing, chest like appearance of the Ingram had been extended outwards in the area below the pilot  
hatch, also the sides and the rear had been extended out ever so slightly to accomodate more fuel. The   
head of the Fairfax was also slightly different, with an extra thick wire mesh embbedded galss screen   
in front of the main camera to prevent foul play when engaged in combat. The legs were thicker and wider  
apart to take the extra weight. Then there were exhausts, built into the frame at the back and covered   
so that they could not be blocked, they made it look like a Freight truck gone wrong. The colour scheme   
of the Fairfax though was the bit that had made Noa's head turn.  
  
Instead of the grey and dark blue strip with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police's logo embedded on the front,  
the UK transport police model had opted for a white base all over the body. Around the cockpit hatch was   
a flouresant yellow and orange striped mix, in the front was the emblem of the Transport police, on top   
of which sat the Crown. Below that on the widened body was "POLICE" written in a bold, blue coloured font.   
Then finally she looked at the badge at the front. The new badge was a wide one on which read in bold   
white letters on a retangular black background "Heavy Rover".  
  
Noa looked at it one more time, looking down at the swarm of engineers looking it over, connecting the   
new MG Rover Connecti-test equipment to the Patlabor to check to see if any systems were damaged during   
transit.  
  
Sakaki looked up as he stood at the back and saw Noa. He smiled.  
  
"Look it's Alphonse's Cousin!" Sakaki shouted up to Noa, pointing to the Fairfax.  
  
Noa smiled "what do you think of it?"  
  
"Well the Cheif Engineer's leaned it forward quite heavily to sort out some imbalance problems but   
apart from that, I'm pleasantly suprised with it" Sakaki replied.  
  
"You think they'd let us test them out?" Noa winked.  
  
Sakaki shook his head with a grin "heh not that easy kiddo, you have to wait for the pilot to arrive   
and that's not for another 10 or 12 hours yet"  
  
Noa sighed and walked back to the duty room "only 12 hours" she mumbled to herself.  
  
****  
  
It was a chilly morning for Trenchard and with Monday morning being one of the busiest times of day for   
Haneda International Airport, his black, London Metropolitan Police uniform with chequered cap made him   
look even more conspicuous, stupid looking even as amused Salarymen and other businesspeople rushed by   
to catch their planes to where only God knew where.  
  
It was interesting, the British Embassy had issued him a 7 day JR pass for the 2 days off he was getting  
, he went west along to Okayama on the Bullet train (it was after all a Green Class pass), first to visit  
all the Tenchi Muyo landmarks (that was his favourite show, now intricatly knowing most of the songs off   
by heart, the Mihoshi Police Magic song especially). Then he went onto the island of Shikoku and spent   
the rest of his two nights relaxing in one of the islands many shrines which doubled as homely Ryokans.  
  
Finally he took a direct train firstly to Tokyo Central station, then to Haneda station and there he was,   
looking down at his black trousers and shined shoes, waiting for three other Coppers he probabbly hasn't   
even seen before.  
  
"Ha ha! I told you he'd be in uniform!" shouted a deeply Scottish voice "you owe me a fiver!"   
  
"Oh sod off Guv" Macca said, slightly chuckling himself as they saw Trenchard.  
  
Trenchard turned and looked at the Scot "DCI Gallagher?"  
  
Gallagher nodded with smile "aye, that's me, you're PC Trenchard right?"  
  
Trenchard saluted smartly "yes sir, Police Constable Harry Trenchard report-"  
  
"Look cut the 'Sir yes sir' GI Joe rubbish okay?" Gallagher said "I have a feeling that I'll be seeing more   
of this"  
  
Trenchard nodded "yeah sir" he said finally relaxing "it's all 'yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir' here"   
  
Gallagher yawned deeply, the jetlag had caught up with him the moment he had stepped off of the plane "oh   
bloody hell" he muttered "well we have to wait around for Captain Goto to pick us up now"  
  
"Well welcome to Tokyo gentlemen" Trenchard said as he straightened his cap "Want to know anything to watch  
out for?"  
  
"Well it would help" Willams (who had slept most of the flight) nodded with a smile.  
  
"Several things to look out for" Trenchard said as he stepped in close to the group "The grasp of English that  
the Japanese have is confusing at most, don't be suprised if signs, posters or even shop names make you blink"   
he explained as he beat his chest lightly to keep warm "secondly if you see someone with a tatoo, they're   
normally organised crime, Yakuza whatever you call em' and lastly if you can't find somewhere that serves   
British tea, find a McDonalds or something"  
  
Gallagher just nodded and yawned again "what have you been told about handling the Yakuza?"  
  
"Leave them alone" Trenchard said with a shrug "that's all the guff they've given me"  
  
Gallagher nodded and took out one of those really small mini-bottles of Famous Grouse Whiskey before emptying   
it all down his throat to the amazement of Trenchard.  
  
"Sorry it was all they sold on the plane" Gallagher shrugged as he cringed for a moment "Right now out priority   
is to track down the WDA and RIRA members who are planning those attacks, Trenchard did you read the breif Tokyo  
Met sent you?"  
  
Trenchard nodded "yeah sir, fully breifed"  
  
Gallagher thought for a second "right as soon as we get to where we're being placed, Willams you take Trenchard   
and get some space for a phoneline, long desk and a PC, preferably with a western keyboard, pull rank if you have   
to, we need somewhere to conduct our business from"  
  
"Got it Guv" Willams nodded.  
  
"Macca, as soon as your feet hit the ground, you get on that Fairfax, test, re-test and re-re-test everything on  
that, PC Trenchard here will need it if we're needed to support SV2 in any way" Gallagher concluded.  
  
Macca nodded and buried his face back into the maintenance folder of the Fairfax.  
  
"Now" Gallagher turned back to the road that ran along the arrivals exit "where the bloody hell is Goto?"  
  
"Buggered if I know Guv" Willams brred as he shivered from the cold. 


	4. The Story of the Charmless Export Model ...

J-Wave FM was blasting on the Police minivan stereo as Goto lazed in the back, smoking a precious  
Silk Cut Ultra he had pawned off of one the British maintenance crew that had arrived with the Patlabor.   
  
Asuma however wasn't so pleased with himself.  
  
"Why the hell am I doing the driving!" he muttered "I had a report to type before the unit arrived!!"  
  
"Shush I can't hear the music" Noa hissed as her head bounced up and down like a Nightclub Bouncer was   
doing a violent number with her head and a brick wall, mumbling incoherently to the lyrics of "Definatly   
Maybe" by Oasis.  
  
"Maybe you should focus on the task in hand rather than making your hair untidy Officer Izumi" came Goto's   
sleepy voice from the back "and turn it down, I can't get any rest back here"  
  
Noa ruffled her hair back into it's usual shape "Actually now you mention it, I needed to do that   
inspection of Alphonse" she muttered as she turned the stereo down to a more acceptable level.   
  
"We're comming to Haneda arrivals now Sir" Asuma said as he turned the minibus down to the road that   
went past the arrivals exit.  
  
"Ey up Guv" Macca said as the Police Minibus drove down the road slowly "is this our ride?"  
  
"No idea, Tim flag it down and ask them" Gallagher said as he carefully placed a filter into his  
rollup.  
  
Trenchard looked at the group (who were lazing around sitting on their cases) and sighed, he stepped out   
into the road and put his hand up for the Minicab to stop.  
  
"Who the hell is this!" Asuma said as he put the brakes on suddenly "and what's with the getup!?"  
  
Noa just looked for a second "oh I know!" She smiled happily "it's Trenchard!"  
  
Tim walked over to the Minicab and knocked on Asuma's window, Asuma wound it down "yes?" he asked in   
English.  
  
Trenchard smiled sheepishly and said (in fluent Japanese) "Hey, do you know any Police unit round here  
that's due to pick up some VIP British foreigners?"  
  
Asuma blinked, then cleared it through his head that anyone can learn a language, but that well!? Before   
he could speak though, Goto had gotten up and was rubbing his teeth with a finger.  
  
"Yeah, you're the transfer pilot arn't you?" Goto mumbled "I'm Captain Goto and these two go by the names  
of Officers Noa Izumi and Asuma Shinohara"  
  
Trenchard smiled and shook Asuma's hand "wow, so your dad's company helped make my Patlabor, that's cool!"  
  
Asuma nodded "yep, I don't really like to talk about Dad's word though, gets boring, looking forward to   
working with you"  
  
"Sure, sure same here!" Trenchard nodded before spying Izumi "wow Noa is this really you!?" he grinned.  
  
"Yeah! Remember me, I was the one who gave you all my old notes on Patlabor design for the classes!" Noa   
beamed back.  
  
"Oh yeah, thanks again for those, god only knows how I would've gotten through the early classes without   
those!" Trenchard smiled, leaning over Asuma and shaking her hand firmly.  
  
"Oi Trenchard!" came a voice behind him "Are they our lift or not!?"  
  
"Hmm, well you kept them waiting long enough" Goto said opening the side door "right everyone, inside now,  
we need to get you all breifed on life here!"  
  
****  
  
The drive to the landfill zone and after that SV2's base of operations was a initially a slow one, the   
chokeing traffic filling most of Tokyo's motorways up to capacity (and beyond). When the small minibus  
got into the wide exanse of the landfill zone though, things sped up.  
  
"Bloody hell" Williams said as he looked out of the window "and they want to do this to parts of the  
Thames eastury!"   
  
"Looks busy" Trenchard mumbled as he saw the towering labors and construction cranes moving around on  
the designated development areas, despite being in Japan for a year now he had only seen limited parts  
of the Babylon project on TV.  
  
"Do you speak any English?" Trenchard asked in his 2nd tounge nervously, leaning forward to Noa and Asuma.  
  
"Some" Noa nodded "but not much really".  
  
"I'm okay" nodded Asuma "Dad made me take it as part of my courses before I went into the Police"   
  
"Excellent" smiled Trenchard.  
  
"What's that in the box?" Noa asked. Trenchard had been holding a box while waiting for Gallagher and co at   
the airport.  
  
"Oh this?" Trenchard said as he opened the top "it's my Helmet"  
  
Noa tried not to laugh as she saw the pokey tall helmet, looking more like an old Fireman's helmet it was   
covered in black felt and had the London Metropolitan Police badge on the front and a silver crest on the top.  
  
"What?" Trenchard asked defensibly "it's a tradition in the UK!"   
  
"I..I know that" giggled Noa "just looks like one of those wacky party hats thats all" this sent Noa into   
hysterics.  
  
"You won't get a word out of her now" Asuma smiled as Noa rolled on her seat in laughter.  
  
Meanwhile at the back Gallagher and Goto swaped notes.  
  
"Rollup?" Gallagher offered as he dropped a filter into his mix of tobbaco paper and Golden Virginia tobabbco,   
licking one side and rolling it up quickly.  
  
"Sure" Goto nodded "So, you think you'll need help getting through Tokyo?"  
  
"Well it's alot more ordered than London ever was" Gallagher replied "who could you reccomend, don't forget you  
have your own Patlabor squad to man"  
  
"There is that" Goto nodded as he smoked his roll up slowly "I know what to do though"  
  
"Which is?" Gallagher asked "both me and my men need to get used to Tokyo before we do anything about the Expo   
next week"  
  
"I've got an idea" Goto said "I'll assign one of my people to Constable Trenchard and another to you and DC   
Williams"  
  
"That should work" Gallagher nodded "trouble how good is their english?"  
  
Goto thought for a second "right, Officer Asuma goes with you and Williams and Officer Clancy goes with Constable   
Trenchard"  
  
"Clancy?" Gallagher blinked "wow, so Trenchard isn't the only one then?"  
  
"Nah" Goto shook his head as he finnished his roll up and dropped it on the floor to stamp out "she got herself the   
transfer" he mumbled as he stamped down lazily several times "you'll be okay though, the main patrol officers when   
they see you they'll think you're being shown around the city"  
  
Gallagher nodded "so what about the Yakusa then?"  
  
Goto leaned back in a streach "what about the Yakusa?"  
  
"Well do they have any known links with the WDA or RIRA?" Gallagher pressed.  
  
Goto smiled slightly "Harry, the Yakusa are a way of life here, they gave up with drugs when the Russian Mafia ran   
them out of the best routes to the US and Europe, they get much more from ripping off cars and sending them to the   
Middle East to be re-clocked for entry into the European market" he explained "the last thing they want is to get   
mixed up with the WDA witchhunt"  
  
Gallagher nodded and sighed "that's good, do you have any files on known WDA members or sympathisers that I could   
look at?"  
  
"Well there are only one or two known ones who haven't been jailed yet" Goto said, thinking off of the top of his   
head "I'll show you later"  
  
Gallagher nodded and leaned back himself, the next second he had nodded off.  
  
****  
  
Sakaki was the first to step out of the hanger when the minibus door opened, Macca (who too had nodded off while   
listening on his MP3 played), just happened to be leaning against the sliding door when it opened, head drooping out   
of the minibus while he snored. Loudly.  
  
"Come on you lazy git!" Gallagher said, batting Macca round the back of the head.  
  
"Oh sorry Guv" Macca said as he was virtually pushed out of the minibus.  
  
"So this is DS McVallaned then" Sakaki smiled as he looked down at the crumpled heap on the floor which passed as  
the UK Cheif Engineer.  
  
"Erm, yes sir" Macca said as he got up, dusting himself down "are you Cheif Engineer Sakaki?" he asked when he realised  
just who he was talking to.  
  
"Don't wear it out" he smiled as he held his hand out "looking forward to teaching you how to make the AV-98 Ingram and   
Mk1 Fairfax work properly"  
  
"Me..me too sir!" Macca said eagerly, his dream now come true as he shook Sakaki's hand excitedly.  
  
"Hey Goto" Sakaki called over "We gotta start, I can't waste much time here"   
  
"Sure" Goto said "go right ahead"  
  
By then everyone else had clambered out of the Minibus, Gallagher fumbled for his tin of tobbaco and cig papers as they   
entered the building.  
  
"Ah!" Goto said quickly "I really wouldn't do that if I were you"  
  
"Why?" Gallagher blinked as he slid the tin back into his coat pocket.  
  
"DCI Gallager!" Shinobu said plesantly as she looked up from a folder she was reading.  
  
"This is Captain Shinobu Nagumo, the Cheif round here" Goto smiled as he turned around, quickly fumbling his packet of   
Ciggarettes into his front pocket.  
  
"DCI Harry Gallagher, please to meet you Ma'aam" he replied, putting his hand out "I've heard you run a tight ship here   
Captain"  
  
Shinobu smiled slightly "I like to keep standards high here DCI Gallagher" she said as she very firmly shook his hand.  
  
"Please just Gallagher" he shrugged as he returned the shake "personally it's all down to attitude, as long as you   
approach the problem with the right mindset you get the same standards as those military style outfits that Scotland   
Yard run" he said with a mock shiver.  
  
Shinobu frowned for a second, having a quick nightmare of Goto being the Cheif of SV2 instead of her, she put her   
smile back out on show "well surely different approaches for different places"  
  
Gallagher scratched the back of his head "yeah I guess, so where do you want us?"  
  
Shinobu looked to Goto "I thought that was Goto's department?"  
  
"Goto?" Gallagher asked looking behind him.  
  
Goto blinked in his bemused style and said "oops"  
  
Meanwhile Asuma and Noa had led Trenchard through with Macca into the Hangar.   
  
"So you did a stint in an Ingram at training?" Noa asked.  
  
"Well it was for a week, basic orientation and understanding of the systems" Trenchard said nervously "why? I thought  
I was going to get a Gorrilla or something?"  
  
"Trust me, when you see what you're going to see, you'll think you have won the lottery!" Asuma grinned slightly.  
  
Trenchard was led down the E-pen style set up with the two Ingrams that were parked up, going basic lookers by   
Macca and Sakaki (with a very worried Ota complaining on the side about why his Ingram is being messed around by a   
19 year old rookie from London).  
  
"Heres your baby Harry" Asuma said as they turned round the corner of the last bay at the end.  
  
Trenchard looked at the Fairfax and rubbed his eyes for a moment, he couldn't quite belive it "you sure?" he said   
"nah this is a joke right, wheres the real jockey?"  
  
"look" Noa beamed as she pointed to the Name on the side of the cockpit door "PC Trenchard, Sqd A, VCU"  
  
"Bloody hell" was all Trenchard could say (whisper more like) before he stepped back excitedly "this is what I wanted to   
pilot since I was 15!" he said, eyes wide with happiness "I'm gonna be the first!!!"   
  
"Congratulations" came a voice behind the jumpy Trenchard. The three turned round to see a rather unemtional Kanuka stepping   
down the steps leading from the ready room.  
  
"Oh this is Sergeant Kanuka Clancy" Asuma said "Kanuka this is Constable Trenchard"  
  
"Oh" Kanuka said, raising an eyebrow "I thought we were having a funeral" she commented when she saw how heavily the   
black uniform of the British Policeman was.  
  
"Well I would have the heavy woolen overcoat Ma'aam but they phased those out a couple of years ago" Trenchard chuckled   
nervously (in english) as her stare hit him for a second.  
  
"You're fresh out of the Academy I hear" Kanuka questioned.  
  
"Ah yes Ma'aam" Trenchard nodded "though I have a year of experience in the borugh of Brixton in London as a foot patrol before I   
applied for Patlabor training"  
  
Kanuka nodded as Noa looked at Asuma with that "what is she up to?" look.  
  
"Good, good" Kanuka said as she put out a hand, no smile showing, just a hand "look forward to working with you"   
  
"Me too Ma'aam" Trenchard nodded slowly.  
  
"Call me Kanuka" she said firmly "and look after your Patlabor, they don't grow on trees" with that she turned and walked back   
upstairs.  
  
"She does this often right?" Trenchard said, quite intimidated just by the stare.  
  
Asuma blinked "no, she's never been this hostile, no idea what she meant by her last comment"  
  
Noa stayed silent, however she was thinking.  
  
****  
  
After initial introductions, Trenchard was dragged away by Asuma and Williams to program the Fairfax, Goto directed   
Gallagher to the pile of documents that he needed to read through before he could get onto tackling the problem at hand.   
Macca and Sakaki though had more practical things at hand.  
  
"Yeah so we just leaned it forward by an extra 12 degrees to get the stability right, the cameras were tilted upwards so   
the jockey could see properly" Macca explained as they went over basic checks with the Fairfax after working over Ota's   
Ingram (much to Ota's annoyance).  
  
Sakaki nodded "we'll have to look at this another time" he said as he ticked off the list "can't stay like this, I'm sure   
we'll get it balanced properly though"  
  
Macca looked at the Fairfax and the Ingram sitting next to it "say, which one do you think would win in a head to head?"  
  
Sakaki also took a long, hard look at both "I'd say weight wise, the Fairfax would be harder to move around so the Ingram"  
  
Macca nodded "Yeah" then he grinned, fancing his chances he looked at Sakaki and said "you think we could get them in a one   
to one?"  
  
Sakaki looked at Macca, then at the Ingram, then back at Macca, then at the Fairfax before saying "Sounds like a good idea,  
but will Goto approve"  
  
Goto and Gallagher sat on the desk in the temporary office that Gallagher and Williams had commandeered as Sakaki and Macca   
put the idea accross.  
  
"We need to test out the Fairfax, test out the stability of the thing in a close combat situation" Macca started.  
  
"So we had the idea of a one on one, no weapons or Controllers to guide the jockeys" Sakaki added.  
  
"We need to get some operational time under the Fairfax's belt guv" Macca said.  
  
Gallagher mused "I'll have to go with Macca on this one, the Fairfax did have some stabiliy problems in testing"  
  
Goto said nothing, he looked out of the window as Asuma sat with Williams in the Command car , directing him on   
how to aid Trenchard in programming his Fairfax. Noa was peering into the darkness of the Fairfax's cockpit, probabbly  
helping Trenchard with programming his Fairfax. Kanuka however just sat in front of all this, arms crossed, looking up   
at the Fairfax's cockpit.  
  
"Okay" Goto muttered finally "put Clancy in the Ingram and put her against Trenchard"  
  
"What I thought one of your people were going to do it?" Gallagher said "Trenchard is only a rookie and we've only   
just arrived, Trenchard is about 5 hours behind sleep wise we haven't even set our watches 9 hours ahead!"  
  
"That's the whole point, if we need to launch suddenly, I'll want him comming along so he needs the exerience" Goto  
said as he walked out "if anyone needs me I'll be having a ciggarette"  
  
Gallagher looked out the window himself and saw Trenchard clambering out of the Fairfax, laughing a bit with Williams   
had joined him.  
  
"God help him then" Gallagher said to himself.  
  
After an hour of orientation with the Fairfax's systems and programming the vital information in, a breifing was called  
in the classroom like breifing room, the white board covered with doodle that Goto and other had drawn over the weeks.  
  
Gallagher was first into the room, followed by a Goto who held a peice of paper.  
  
"What do you think is happening?" Trenchard asked quietly.  
  
"Ah this normally happens when they want to do some practice" Noa sighed as she streatched out.  
  
Trenchard looked at Goto who yawned before speaking.  
  
"Err.." he said before reading the sheet "training exercise at 1200, close combat" he said firmly "opponents are Constable   
Trenchard and Sergeant Clancy"  
  
Trenchard nearly fell off of his seat, Noa and Asuma just blinked.  
  
"Kanuka will be using Ota's Ingram while Trenchard shall use the new Fairfax" Goto finnished.  
  
"Hehehe" Ota sniggered, almost cackled "this is going to be good"  
  
"Yes" Goto said without emotion at Ota's cackling "anyway dismissed everyone, one hour till exercise begins"  
  
Trenchard rubbed his head a bit as he looked accross the classroom, Kanuka was looking right back at him with one of those  
"KO in round one" looks as she stood and walked out.  
  
****  
  
"Wow" Williams said "that really gave him a shock guv"  
  
"I know" Gallagher nodded as he looked down at the young Constable check over his Patlabor "but he needs to learn somehow"  
  
The Fairfax had been fuelled to the max before sealing and grounding the outside to prevent static bursts ignighting the   
tanks. Trenchard then eased himself into the tight Cockpit, knowing he was sitting on a large amount of Red desiel.  
  
"Have fun out there" Macca smiled as he closed the cockpit hatch.  
  
"Oh ha bloody ha" said Trenchard as the door closed.  
  
"What do you think of him?" Ota asked as he finnished checking over Kanuka's Ingram.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"The Brit you're facing, Trenchard?"  
  
Kanuka looked at Ota "different" was her reply before she sat back and put on her headset.  
  
"Ahh" chuckled the Sergeant "sounds too nervous to be a Patlabor pilot to me"  
  
"Keep in mind that 'sounds like' and 'is like' are two totally seperate things" Kanuka said with determination.  
  
Because of the clearance, both Patlabors had to be transported outside via truck. Only then could they be made upright. The  
Fairfax was raised first, slowly climbing upwards due to it's added weight.  
  
"Funny feeling" Trenchard muttered to himself.  
  
"Right it's upright" Macca said as he looked at the display "Trenchard could you start the wind up procedure please"   
  
"Sure" he said as he keyed in the access code then through the touchscreen technology began the start up procedure on the  
two Deisel engines. A loud, cranky whine was heard as first one then the other started to move into motion, huge plumes of  
black exhaust smoke were expelled from the covered exhaust pipes at the back as the engines exploded into life.  
  
"Power up, movement ability at..100% ready to move" Trenchard said through the net.  
  
"Copy that, you have clearance to move" Macca replied after getting the nod from Gallagher.  
  
Trenchard took a deep breath and took a step forward, the engines' whine increasing as the Fairfax took it's first step   
down onto the ground.  
  
"Stability is...good" Macca smiled.  
  
"Watch it" Sakaki said "remember the tilt forward is only a quick fix".  
  
"I'm okay" Trenchard said as he went through the arm and leg motions to check that the movement dampners were okay, lose  
them and he'd fall, hard "Fuel tanks A,B,C and D fully sealed and pumping"  
  
"Good, now wait for the Ingram and the signal" Gallagher said into the Mic "from there all Net communication from us   
will cease you'll be on your own in a situation where the command car has either been cut off from transmission of removed   
from play. The Ingram in front of you is hostile, it was captured by a hostile force and will have to get through you to   
get to it's objective"  
  
Trenchard knew what the jargon meant, this was an exercise on what to do if the Command car had been destroyed, as sick   
the thought of DC Williams diying in a fireball was, he kept his focus on the exercise ahead. He adjusted the brightness   
and contrast of the main screen and moved the camera up an inch.  
  
This was when his shadow was joined by a second, faster moving shadow. Kanuka had arrived.  
  
Trenchard took a deep breath and took a step back, making room for himself away from the quicker and nimble Ingram.  
  
"What is he doing?" Noa blinked "They haven't even started yet and he's stepping away!"  
  
Kanuka for her part fixed her position for a flying start, though she was facing slightly away from Trenchard, he had a   
small idea of what she was aiming to do. Kanuka eased into the seat and gripped the controls with the hi-grip gloves   
that they used to keep their hands on the controls at critical moments.  
  
"I'm ready" Kanuka said into the net.  
  
"Ready" Trenchard said onto the net before turning off his connection.  
  
Goto was smoking another Silk Cut when he got the nod from Sakaki, pressing the button on the hand held torch with a Green   
light on to signal beginning of the exercise.  
  
Almost immediatly, Kanuka sprang her Ingram forward onto the offensive, it's sleek, shined body lunging forward with   
extraordinary speed as she flew forward towards Trenchard. Caught off guard, Trenchard managed to take another step back   
before lunging forward himself. But unlike Kanuka, he threw the body forward and around in a circular motion, using the   
heavy fuel load and the other added weight as a slingshot to get that extra speed to throw him past the clutches of Kanuka's   
Ingram and behind.  
  
Kanuka gritted her teeth as she saw the bright white Fairfax, just, so very just swing round and past her Ingram, she   
brought it round very quickly, seeing that Trenchard had only just managed to keep the whole thing under control, facing   
sideways away from Kanuka as he quickly set his position again.  
  
Kanuka though was too fast, jumping in again, using her speed to her advantage, she slammed into the Fairfax just as it   
had turned to face the new threat, grappling with it, trying to get her arms round the waist or get a grip to get it onto   
the floor.  
  
Trenchard though was in deep trouble, he rocked back as several tons of steel and other metal slammed into him, just inches   
away from his face. Recovering, he tried to pry himself away from her attempts to get a hold, knowing that it might be already   
too late he thought quickly, his solution was unorthordox to say the least.  
  
Kanuka raised an eyebrow as the Fairfax fell backwards, then gasped as she realised, he was using his superior weight to drag   
her down with him as he rolled backwards, using the momentum to throw the Ingram off of him.  
  
Although that was the theorised plan anyway. Reality threw the plan in the bin and forced a new situation on them both.  
  
Trenchard, although managing to get out of Kanuka's hold, he had failed to throw her off of him, only roll her Ingram off   
to the sideof him. The air was filled with the screams of protesting engines and the whine of gears as they both got up as   
quickly as they could.  
  
"This is excellent!" Macca grinned, the specticle in front of him exceeding the wildest of all of his dreams.  
  
"Impressive how Trenchard uses his Patlabor" Asuma said as he watched.  
  
"He's too inexperienced though, he's yet to pull off an offensive move yet" Noa said quietly as she watched them both.  
  
"Hah!" Ota spat "He was lucky to get out of that and you both know it"  
  
The pair ignored him as Kanuka got up just before Trenchard, the Fairfax forced back to it's knees as Kanuka dived on top of it,   
trying to force it down onto the floor for a pin, Kanuka couldn't get a good grip however and was forced off. Trenchard managing   
to get up and get his bearings.  
  
They squared off again, the whole fight taking it's toll on both combatants as Trenchard was the first to move forward this   
time, the twin engines roaring as he put it all into this, thrusting forward, aiming to clip the Ingram slightly. Kanuka   
started to slide round to dodge the blow and thats when he saw his opening, guessing which way she was going to dodge he altered  
course ever so slightly, the two patlabors getting ever so close, then they touched, tipping the Ingram into a slight imbalance   
and over onto it's back again.   
  
Kanuka shook her head to get the cobwebs out of her head when the Ingram hit the deck, already starting to get up. Trenchard however   
had miscalculated, the collision had acted like two billiard balls bouncing off of one another, sending him staggering off, the   
instability showing as he turned it round to see that Kanuka had just gotten back up.  
  
His inexperience showing, he lunged forward again, this time with straight forward punches and shoves that hit nothing but thin   
air as Kanuka dodged and jumped back, then Trenchard punched downward, hitting the ground as he (just) missed Kanuka.  
  
"There!" Noa said "he's finished"   
  
"He's at Kanuka's mercy there" Goto said "well that's a new recruit for you"  
  
Gallagher just watched as Kanuka quickly grabbed the Fairfax around the waist and with a heavy strain on the Ingram picked it   
slightly off of the ground, falling forward as she dropped Trenchard onto the ground, effectivly pinning him down for the count.  
  
"Sergeant Clancy is the winner of the exercise!" Macca said down the net once it had been reestablished.  
  
Trenchard clambered out of the battered Fairfax once it had been self righted, rubbing his head. The last move had made him   
hit his head on the spartan headrest and that had given him a headache. The fight though had gone as well as expected, it   
wasn't the machine that had let him down it was his lack of experience.  
  
"Tim!" Gallagher called as he jogged over "how was it in there?"  
  
"Steady, the mini-airconditioning units eliminate any fumes that might get into the cockpit, overall very good guv"   
  
"Good" Gallagher said as he looked away and shoved a cig into his mouth "look you were excellent out there"  
  
Trenchard nodded, still rubbing his head.  
  
"Just focus a little more" Gallagher winked "the key is not to know how powerful your opponent is or how much faster he is   
than you, it's to know how to get around them and beat them, even if that model is better than yours"  
  
"Yes guv" Trenchard said, quite enthusiastically to his suprise.  
  
"Good now go have a sit down, I'll brief everyone later" Gallagher said as he walked off. As he did though, Kanuka came into   
view, she too looked a bit worse for wear from the exercise as she looked directly at him, then she turned to walk towards him.  
  
He froze, he found that he was so intimidated by her. Her body language, her eyes, everything suggested a willingness to show   
people who is in charge.  
  
"Tim" Kanuka said.  
  
"ma'aam, I mean Kanuka" Trenchard said as he shook his head.  
  
"Just wanted to say thanks" Kanuka said.  
  
"What for?" Trenchard asked, quite nervous.  
  
"For such a great match" Kanuka said, flashing a warm smile "I'll see you later for that breifing"  
  
"Err...yes" Trenchard blinked as she walked off. The maintainence crews rushed to usher the two Patlabors onto their trailers,   
like strange, metalic people injured from a car crash.  
  
"Hey mate" Williams said as he walked up next to him.  
  
"Hey" Trenchard smiled, then yawned hard, his eyes red with lack of sleep "I hope the Embassy call to tell us where we'll be sleeping  
tonight, I'd kill for a nights rest!"  
  
"Yeah don't bloody blame you either" Willams nodded "So how was the Fairfax"  
  
"Despite it's closeness to the Ingram" Trenchard said "the added weight makes it handle like a pig stuck in superglue, it's turns like  
the sodding QE2* for Christs sake!" (*QE2 = Queen Elizabeth 2nd, the oldest and most luxorius cruise liner on the traditional Atlantic   
Route)  
  
Williams chuckled "I've got it just as bad, I'm you're controller!"   
  
"Well as long you can read a map quickly and a bit of technical prowess?" Trenchard said.  
  
"Yeah, used to be in the TA* me" Williams winked. (TA = Territorial Army, or Army Reserve)  
  
"You were?" Trenchard raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Yeah, did a year in it, best navigator in the Battalion I was" Willams smiled proudly "could find out where we were with an outdated   
map, a minature compass under candle light in under 10 seconds I could"   
  
"Well that's a good start then" Trenchard grinned "hey who gets the pints in at the end of an emergency eh?"  
  
"Well that's obvious" Willams smiled back as he started walking back to the main hangar buildings "that's you isn't it"  
  
"Git why me!?" Trenchard laughed.  
  
"you're uniform you have to buy the drinks!"   
  
"Always pulling rank, even when off duty" said Trenchard.  
  
"Yeah well when you get Sergeant then you can pull it on me" replied Williams with a chuckle.  
  
Trenchard said nothing, simply yawned as the late Afternoon drew on. 


	5. The Story of the Charmless Export Model ...

Gallagher streached in his bed, looking out of the window at a Tokyo in rush hour. Rubbing his eyes he got up, only in his   
boxers he walked to his case and opened it, taking out a pressed suit in it's plastic cover. They were quartered near the   
British Embassy where most of the embassy workers lived. As there was really only 4 of them, they had a 4 bedroom detached   
house to share.  
  
"Reminds me of University" Gallagher grumbled as he fixed on his belt and checked to see if everything was there. Fixed   
handcuffs, steel extendable baton and pepper spray canister holder.  
  
Picking up his Warrant Card, Gallagher looked again out of the window, it had brightened up since the day before, clouds   
clearing to let the sun shine. To this he just stared blankly as he waited for the drowseyness to clear out of his head.  
  
"Guv" Williams called on the other side of the door "come on mate, brekkies ready!"  
  
"Yeah comming" Gallagher yawned.  
  
The brekfast smelt homely enough, a kettle clicking off as it reached boiling point, frying sounds and the smell of black   
pudding being fried along with some bacon and egg welcomed Gallagher to ktichen.  
  
"Morning" came the mumbles and grumbles from around the table. It seemed it was only Gallagher who was suited. Trenchard   
yawned heavily in a baggy t-shirt and boxers, Macca had managed to find a sleeping bag and had entombed himself in one at   
the table, reading the Japan Times's motor section, then turning with disgust to a copy of Fast Car magazine.  
  
"No tits in that one" Macca grumped.  
  
"It's a broadsheet, what the bloody hell do you expect!" laughed Williams who had a shirt and a pair of jogging bottoms   
on "full blown lesbian porn?"  
  
"Well apart from that-" Macca began.  
  
"Morning" Gallagher coughed loudly as he stepped in.  
  
"Morning guv" Williams said as he brought the frying pan over tipping eggs onto each plate, then bacon and then black   
pudding.  
  
"Cheers mate" grumbled Trenchard as he took his plate then helped himself to some beans.  
  
"What's up with him?" Gallagher asked as he sat down and poured some tea into a mug, dumping a couple of teaspoons of   
sugar and throwing in some milk for good measure before tasting it "ugh!" Gallagher spat "couldn't you have gotten some   
Typhoo!?"  
  
"Nah they only had PG tips" Macca said.  
  
"Yeah anyway, Trenchard didn't get much sleep last night guv" Williams said as he sat down to his brekfast.  
  
Gallagher nodded "what did everyone think of their first day?"  
  
Macca looked up "excellent, Sakaki gave me to guidance and trust that I needed guv, a couple more days and I should be   
able to maintain both the Ingram and the Fairfax easily"  
  
Gallagher looked to Williams "what about you, remember by the looks of it, sleeping beauty over there is probabbly   
going to rely on you when something goes wrong"  
  
Williams leaned back "Asuma says I'm doing well for a beginner, managed to get my end of the Fairfax OS upload done on the   
2nd attempt which is good, just need to orientate myself with the damage control screens and the rest of the Command car   
interface and I'm all set to go Guv"  
  
"Brilliant for both of you then" Gallagher said as he sipped his tea "Williams, Trenchard we're going to go on some   
surveilance today" he smiled "wear casual smarts, we'll dish you out an encrypted radio from the embassy.  
  
Trenchard opened his eyes "but I'm a jockey, I don't sit in a car, CID do that!"  
  
"I'm short on men Tim mate" Gallagher grinned "if it'll make it easier, you can wear your uniform and go on foot"  
  
"I have to wear my uniform anyway until I get Transport Police pilot uniform" Trenchard sighed into his arms.  
  
"Well I'll leave you to it" Gallagher said as he finnshed his breakfast "we'll leave in half an hour"  
  
****  
  
"Brrr!" Noa shivered as she walked into the hangar "freezin'"  
  
"Hey Noa" Hiromi said with a gentle smile as he washed the front windcreen of his truck.  
  
"Hiya" Noa said, streaching her arms out "you did the nightshift then?"  
  
"Yeah" Hiromi said as he looked up at the Fairfax as new paint was applied, covering the scratches of the exercise from   
yesterday "Guess I missed the new arrivals?"  
  
"Yeah, they're comming in today though, they're going on patrol for some reason, breifing is soon though" Noa replied as   
she looked down at her watch.  
  
Goto however wasn't as lucky as Noa, Ota or Shinobu even. He was happily snoring away at his desk, spent ciggarette in his   
hand when the door slammed uncomfortably loudly for Goto, springing him out of his dreamy dreams with a bang.  
  
"Wake up!" Shinobu snapped as she dropped her case on her desk, adding yet more ringing to Goto's ears.  
  
"M-morning" he mumbled as he hid the cig butt in the palm of his hand "have a nice sleep?"  
  
"Yeah, slept soundly as soon as my head hit the pillow" Shinobu said as she sat down and opened up her case, taking out   
some papers she had to take home.  
  
Goto sat up and opened one of his deskside drawers, taking out a comb, a bottle of actibrush and deodorant.  
  
"Ohhh theres a locker room y'know!" Shinobu said pointing to the door.  
  
"Yeah but I like to multitask at my desk" Goto grinned as he swigged a bit of the green liquid that was the actibrush.   
Shinobu looked at Goto as he fired his computer back up again, his methods of getting up in the morning might be  
disgusting but his appearance wasn't. Not moving around as much meant that his uniform was always crisp and cut and   
he had long since perfected a way of sleeping on the desk without ruffling up his hair too much.  
  
Goto however wasn't really focused on his personal hygene as he spat into his used coffee cup and rubbed his teeth, he was   
focused on giving Gallagher the ammunition he needed to get the job at hand done as quickly as possible.  
  
The door opened again and Gallagher popped his head in "Morning all" he said "I wanted to do the Breif in about twenty   
minutes Goto?"  
  
"Yeah, give me a minute" Goto said as he tapped away.  
  
"Did you manage to find out any recent suspects" Gallagher asked as he walked in.  
  
"Well there are some well known sympathisers of the WDA in Tokyo" Goto said, handing Gallagher the file that was on his   
desk.  
  
"Sympathisers in that we can't prove that they are directly connected" Shinobu added.  
  
Gallagher nodded as he read the file, based on Aoi Kagatawa, 20, Student and a string of minor protest offenses behind him   
"I see, they unemployed?"  
  
"Yeah, been drawing state benefit for the last 5 years records show" Shinobu said,   
looking at some files Goto had piled on her desk to make space on his own.  
  
"Thats the connection" Gallagher replied, clicking his fingers.  
  
"How did you jump to that conclusion then?" Goto asked.  
  
"Easy, the funding of Terrorist groups is very mixed, those who's agenda does not fit that of a major 3rd party needs as   
much extra income as possible" Gallagher explained.  
  
"So they're drawing Unemployment benefit and using that to fund the WDA?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Well yeah, we had it with the IRA back in the 1960's and 70's, you'll have to prove that they are using all the money   
though" Gallagher added.  
  
"You'll need more than that to get him in front of a court" Goto said "But it's a start, can you-"  
  
Shinobu blinked, not really beleiving what she was hearing "I am not going to allow you to arrest that man on mere   
suspicion!" she said, outraged certainly, insulted maybe.  
  
"Captain, we need to get him off of the streets, we can release him the day after, I just need to shake him up to see what   
he knows" Gallagher said sternly to Shinobu.  
  
"The answer is still no!" Shinobu spat back "I do not want to see an investigation in my division because of foul play"  
  
"She has a point" Goto replied "I have a better idea than arresting him straight away"  
  
Gallagher gave Shinobu a look before looking to Goto "well as long as I get on the road then anything'll do" he muttered.  
  
****  
  
The breifing room was a filled a bit more than usual as Trenchard and Williams joined everyone else for the joit breifing.  
  
"Theme for today is surveilence" Goto said as he read from his clipboard "DCI Gallagher needs two people to acommpany both   
him and DC Willams and PC Trenchard" Goto took one look, sighed and pointed "Kanuka and Asuma, DCI Gallagher you choose who  
you want where"  
  
Gallagher looked at the group, then saw Ota "What about Officer Ota?" he said quietly to Goto.  
  
"You sure?" Goto asked raising an eyebrow "I never knew you liked Dirty Harry impersonators Harry" he grinned.  
  
"Oh you're so funny" Gallagher said sarcastically "I want Officers Asuma and Ota with me and Williams and Kanuka goes with   
Trenchard deal?"  
  
Goto thought for a moment, then he realised what Gallagher's type revelled in, the chase, the raid, the kind who love   
running after the crook and slapping them into the car after they are caught, the perfect man for the job in other   
words.  
  
"Deal" Goto said "pick up the radios at the British Embassy and meet up with me, Kanuka and Trenchard at the Matsuya Dept   
Store opposite Ginza three okay?"  
  
"What are they saying?" Ota asked Asuma, not really getting the more complicated parts of the english being spoken.  
  
"DCI Gallagher wants you to come with us" Asuma said "heavens knows why"  
  
"Ah enough with that!" Ota snapped "you should have restraint instead of airing your thoughts all the time!"  
  
"Hey calm down you two" Noa interupted as Trenchard leaned back and looked at the blackboard.  
  
"PC Trenchard!" Kanuka said as she sat down next to him, Trenchard looked at her, her gaze, though not the blood freezing   
stare of before was still packed to the brim with seriousness, though this was of the professional nature "you'll be   
riding with me"  
  
"Yes sergeant" he replied "who'll be driving?"  
  
"Don't get too ahead of yourself, we haven't got a car yet!" Kanuka said with a slight smile "your cheif will probabbly   
sort one out however"  
  
"Yeah" Trenchard nodded.  
  
"Just stick with me, do what I say and do not run off on your own!" Kanuka said firmly, looking him dead in the eye again   
to press home her statement, Trenchard just nodded, which was enough in Kanuka's books.  
  
Gallagher nodded "good" he turned to the group "right settle down" he said as Goto translated "as Captain Goto has said,   
we are on surveilence, Officers Asuma and Ota are to change into Civillian clothing and accompany myself and DC Williams   
for the duration of the day, Sergeant Kanuka and PC Trenchard will be in uniform and follow an alternative route to ours"  
he said as he took a folded sheet and unfolded it quickly, using bluetac to pin it to the board "this is the area of   
operations in Ginza" he said as he pulled out his Parker pen, on the map was Tokyo Station in the middle, to the southeast   
was the Imperial Hotel, the south the districts of Ginza which included the Matsuzakaya and the Matsuya department stores   
and just below the Station was the Tokyo International Forum.   
  
"Labor-Expo will be held in the Tokyo International Forum, we are to do a surveilence patrol around the area in a sqare   
like route, my team will start at.." he squinted "E-Etai? Dori" he looked up at Goto who nodded "Etai Dori, through Chuo   
Dori ending at the Forum where we'll check out the CCTV equipment there" Gallagher then looked over a Kanuka and Trenchard   
"Sgt Clancy and PC Trenchard will patrol Ginza Districts 1,2,3,4 and 5 in case of any activity there because" Gallagher   
continued as he pinned up three pictures on the wall "We are on the lookout for these three, Aoi Kagatawa, Dougie O'Tool   
and Terry Arnwell. Aoi is known by pure fact to drift around the electronics deptartments of the big Ginza Stores and   
shopping centers, if you see him, do not, repeat not approach him unless I tell you too, follow him and report your   
progress to me" Gallagher finished "thats the end of the breifing, we leave in 20 minutes"  
  
****  
  
Trenchard put on his standard belt, it would weigh a ton after all the stuff he would have to put on it. Sighing he   
looked over his inventory that endless Home Office initiatives and Area command guidelines had burdened him with. Police   
nightstick (he would not be using this today), which replaced the old truncheon although he did notice that the Tokyo   
Metropolitan still used it, steel flexible baton in it's miniturised state, Pepper stray holder with a small cartridge   
of pepper spray, locked handcuffs, specially designed so that they would be inflexible, thereby preventing the detainee   
from moving his arms and hands as much as possible and finally, radio main unit holder (which was empty of course) which   
the revicever on his jumper was connected to. Strangly in keeping with the past image of the traditional 'Bobby' on the   
beat, he still had a holding pouch for a small notepad and pen. He took off his receiver and   
placed it in his pocket of his Pullover.  
  
However with this mission, he had to dispense with the rest of the uniform, sporting a black FCUK baseball cap and dark   
grey pullover with the words "Brixton Spirit" stitched accross the front which went well with his dark blue elasticated   
pull up jogging bottoms and trainers. Hopefully, he thought it would keep him in with one of the hundreds of different   
crowds that the Japanese youth subscribed to.  
  
"You ready?" Kanuka asked as she peered into the locker room "we were meant to go 5 minutes ago"  
  
"I know but Guv's still looking for Capt. Goto" Trenchard smiled as rubbed his forehead "do I look okay?"  
  
"That's what you kids wear in the UK?" Kanuka asked raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Well it's one fashion yes, but not the fashion if you get my feeling" Trenchard sweatdropped.  
  
"Well pass me your gun then" kanuka said as she walked in, Trenchard could see what she had got on for the job. Kanuka   
had opted for a pair of jeans and a beige heavy woolen fleece. Under the fleece was a white shirt, her long, black hair   
done into a ponytail. As it was quite sunny outside, Kanuka sported a pair of worn, black sports sunglasses, probabbly   
Oakleys. Her belt was showing before she properly did the fleece up, quite different to the UK version with the usual   
holders for cuffs but no Pepper Spray holder, the radio was a proper one, not the smaller one that UK Policemen used,   
the nightstick holder was empty though in another pouch she too had a steel flexible baton. The gun holster was missing   
as well, Kanuka probabbly took it off as it stood out too much, a sign of the very sad (and arguably unnesscecary) Gun   
Culture in the United States.  
  
"Guns?" Trenchard blinked "we don't use them, unless I'm in the Armed Response Car"  
  
Kanuka looked at Trenchard for a second then said "good, we'll pick the map up when we get our radios"  
  
Trenchard nodded "you think Captain Goto and Guv were wise in sending us two out, like we haven't actually got a Tokyo   
Police member with us"  
  
Kanuka looked back "if we just stay out of trouble nobody will bother us, just listen to what I told you in the breifing   
okay?"  
  
"Yes Sergeant" Trenchard nodded.  
  
"Goto!" said Gallagher "common we had to leave 5 minutes ago!"  
  
"Yeah hold one" Goto muttered as he flipped out 1,000 yen to a UK Engineer who in turn handed over a pouch of DRUM   
rolling tobbaco.  
  
"Cheers mate" the engineer grinned as he walked off.  
  
"Yeah whatever" Goto replied, raising an eyebrow as he turned to Goto "Yeah I'm ready now, got any ciggarette papers?"   
  
Gallagher gave him his Rizla papers and turned to walk out "I'll see you at the Forum"  
  
"Well we managed to get the front base off" Macca said, rubbing his brow with a grease and oil covered arm "we pumped   
the Deisel out of the tanks"  
  
"Good" nodded Sakaki as he looked at the new, smaller tanks lying outside of the hanger "get your engineers to remove the   
old tank, put the new ones in, give the Fairfax a standard check then install the new fuel and weight distribution   
systems" Sakaki said as he looked down at his watch "10am now you have an hour and a half, get going"  
  
Macca nodded and turned "alright lads gather round and listen up, we've got an hour and a half to get this Fairfax   
balanced so get this noted down and take good notice!"   
  
Sakaki chuckled to himself "he's gonna be the best Engineer they have when I'm finnished with him" he said as Macca   
split the 20 or so engineers into two teams, one to remove the old tank, the other to prepare the other, smaller tanks   
for instant fitting the second the old one has been removed.  
  
****  
  
The drive to the British Embassy was a long and boring one, the embassy at Ichibancho in the Chiyoda ward of the city   
didn't help lift the atmopshere either, it's ugly redbrick exterior clashing horribly with Tokyo's old grey concrete   
apartment blocks and office buildings which had sprung up so quickly and confidently over 30-40 years previously.   
  
The Embassy itself was like most other embassy's, adding wieght to the statement which in some foriegn land there   
will always be a corner that will be forever England. The Union Flag flew with determination, adding to the spirit   
of a city which revolves around so many different objectives. In the car park familiar cars both British and Japanese   
sat patiently. Inside was a trip back to the 1950'swith a varnished wooden walls and furry red carpets, with the Army   
so small these days, actual army personell can't be supplied but National Security Guards make up for what the Ministry   
of Defense pulls back on, the shiny white helmets of Tokyo Metropolitan police's future prospects standing guard   
attentivly. Finally, the reception of the embassy housed a reprint of the famous portrait of the Queen in her prime   
above the check in desk on the wall.  
  
"Strewth" Gallagher sighed as he walked in with Goto and flashed his warrant card to the receptionist "you'd think that   
we're in London" he said as he saw a vending machine, with muched missed Walkers crisps, Kit-kat chunky bars and Polo  
mints along with other British confectionry and chocolate.  
  
"Yeah" Goto said with an eyebrow raised "you'd think they would update the decor in here, I've seen cardboard boxes   
with better interor designs"  
  
"Ah it ain't that bad" Gallagher shrugged "guess the foreign office cut back on funding again"  
  
"You got that right" Sir Andrew said with a smile "I had to cut the expense accounts of my staff the other day"  
  
"Sir Andrew!?" Gallagher blinked "But I thought you had work?"  
  
"I did, but the RAF were transporting the Foreign Minister to see the LabourExpo himself so I had to go too" he yawned   
"didn't get much sleep either"  
  
"Oh yeah Goto, this is Sir Andrew Ramsgate, the Foreign Secretary's private secretary" Gallagher said with a smile   
"Sir Andrew, Captain Goto of SV2"  
  
"A pleasure to meet you Captain" Sir Andrew smiled shaking Goto's hand "We've heard alot about SV2's exploits from   
both Sections"  
  
"We like to be high profile" Goto smiled slightly "bigger deterent that way"  
  
"Quite" Sir Andrew nodded "well I hear Mr. Ayhagami has paid you and Captain Nugamo a visit, however last night we   
found out something that will be very interesting to you"  
  
Goto nodded "well show us the way Sir Andrew".  
  
They were escorted now by suited Special Branch officers up into the deeper areas of the Embassy, other plain clothed   
officers with Kevlar jackets on heldMP5 submachine guns expertly as they stood by strategic points of the secured area   
of the embassy.  
  
"Hmmm all this just for the Ambassodor?" Goto said with an eyebrow raised "boy he must be scared of something"  
  
"The Ambassodor is out on Business in Hokkaido at the moment, although the embassy has been changed into a HQ for the   
Foreign Minister" Sir Andrew said as he walked into one of the conference rooms.   
  
The room's decor was like the others, outdated, with another portrait of the Queen up on the wall. The table though was   
an antique for sure, imported from the UK no doubt and in some perverse way made the Varnished walls and 50's style   
carpets look like works of art, making the room look 10 times as good as it should be. On the table was a see through   
glass container, inside was a small nike backpack, next to the container was a box of disposable rubber gloveslike the   
ones forensic scientists use. Ayhagami stood by the table, his minder, Bhatou was next to him.  
  
"Ah Captain we meet again!" Ayhagami smiled "and you brought DCI Gallagher!"  
  
"This is Secretary Ayhagami of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs" Goto said.  
  
"We have been discussing the reprocussions of what is in that bag" Sir Andrew said.  
  
"What exactly is in the bag?" Gallagher asked.  
  
"This was intercepted by our Customs late last night by another suspected EDA member outside of Tokyo, what is inside   
will confirm out worst fears" Ayhagami explained.  
  
Gallagher put on a pair of gloves and opened the glass case, opening the bag carefully as Goto and Sir Andrew watched.   
Gallagher then to his suprise a large block of Semtex, a pair of detonators in a clear plastic packet and a WH-Smiths*   
notebook (*WH-Smiths are a major Stationary and book chain of shops in the UK).  
  
"What does it say inside the notepad?" Goto asked.  
  
"English, handwritten, page by page instructions in making bin bombs and car bombs" Gallagher sighed.  
  
"I don't think that I have to make myself clear on the gravity of this, this confirms our worst fears that a possible   
attack on LabourExpo is highly likley, we need to stop all possibility of an explosion happening because the last thing   
I want or my opposite wants are headlines saying that 200 odd people were killed because of a RIRA bomb attack!"  
  
"The reprocussions of this bomb could be devestating to both Japanese and British industry, also if the operation to   
foil this fails" Ayahagami said as he lit ciggarette "your positions will be called into question, and there will be   
nothing that me or Sir Andrew can do to save that"  
  
"So you must stop the bombing using any means at your disposal, Prime Minister Blair and Nozumi have been told of the   
current crisis and have agreed that both now have executive powers under the UK Prevention of terrorism Act 1998 and the   
Interpol juristiction acts in both countries to arrest on mere suspicion, you have your tools, you have 3 days, good   
luck gentlemen" Sir Andrew finnished.  
  
"Ah one more point" Ayahagami said writing something down on one of the complementary pads that the Embassy provides   
and ripping half ofthe page off "this must kept be as low profile as possible, anything that grabs the public's   
attention must be covered up immediatly or else face the media barrage the next morning"  
  
Goto and Gallagher nodded.  
  
"Right, return to the front desk and take your radios. You need to get on the road as soon as possible" Sir Andrew said.  
  
****  
  
"Well we got our marching orders" Gallagher said as he took his radio out of the special holding bag with battery and   
charger.  
  
"Yeah" Goto half mumbled, distracted a bit "I'll see you at the forum, radio me if you hear anything okay?"  
  
"Sure mate" Gallagher nodded as he ran to the two cars parked at the side of the main gate.  
  
"Christ you took your time!" Willams said as he wound down the window "you got the radios?"  
  
"Yeah" Gallagher nodded as he passed three Radio sets to Williams before jogging to Kanuka and Trenchard's car.  
  
"Afternoon sir" Kanuka said "are these the radios?"  
  
"They are indeed" Gallagher nodded "look I need you to check the two major department stores in Ginza for me, we'll be   
scanning the streets, I'll phone ahead so they'll be expecting you okay?"  
  
"Yes sir" Kanuka said "do we know where exactly this Aoi man hangs out?"  
  
"He normally goes to Shinjuku for his kicks and drinks but during the day he goes looking for stuff for his Computer   
apparently, maybe shoplifting we don't know, all I know is that we have to watch this man, he might lead us to O'tool   
and Arnwell" Gallagher explained.  
  
Kanuka nodded, turning the engine of the Nissan Primera that was on loan to them on "got it sir" she turned to Trenchard   
"better get your map out we might need it"  
  
"Sure" Trenchard said, whipping it out of his bag in front.  
  
"Oh yeah Trenchard, what flavour crisps do you like?" Gallagher asked.  
  
"Salt and Vinegar, why?"   
  
Gallagher threw him a couple of packets along with a stick of Polos "enjoy"  
  
"Whehey!" Trenchard grinned "you do not realize how long its been since I've seen these!!!"  
  
Gallagher got up and strolled over to the other Nissan Primera in which Williams, Ota and Asuma were in and got in on the   
passenger side.  
  
"To the forum I guess" Gallagher said "and take the long route around". 


	6. The Story of the Charmless Export Model ...

Trenchard looked out of the window as Kanuka drove, the traffic, while busy was bearable as they turned into the Ginza ward. The area's stunning commercial affluence had declined in recent years due to the nation's economic troubles. But it still retained the status of being the one and only definition of consumer culture in the world, with shopping centres and department stores on such size and scale that the likes of New York, Paris and London could only dream of constructing. There was however no sign of what had happened only a couple of months before, with the whole ward being cordoned off to tackle a rouge labour.  
  
"God how are we going to get around this?" Trenchard said as he saw the mass of shoppers.  
  
"Thank god it isn't Golden Week" Kanuka muttered back as she slowed down for traffic lights.  
  
Trenchard nodded and picked up his radio "Silly point this is mid off" he said with a sigh "entering the crease over"  
  
"Received" came the reply from Gallagher "keep in touch over"  
  
"Got it" Trenchard said as he put the radio down.  
  
"Who came up with that?" Kanuka said as she turned right, heading now down past the Matsuzakaya department store.  
  
"Gallagher, must be obsessed with cricket" Trenchard mused as he looked outside "so we're looking for a stocky IC3 male with very short black hair and short glasses?"  
  
"Yeah" nodded Kanuka.  
  
Trenchard nodded as he looked off at the crowd of shoppers, out for their weekend shopping. It was quite disturbing to watch, all of them oblivious to the impossible search for a potential killer (or killers). Defiantly a change of scene from Waseda.  
  
"Ah this is crazy not to mention boring" Trenchard muttered to himself in Japanese.  
  
"First Brit I've seen that speaks Japanese" Kanuka smiled.  
  
"Well I had to learn it if I was going to survive at Waseda for the Patlabor course" Trenchard said as he flipped and folded the map to the right place "is that strange having full blown Ganjin like me speaking Japanese fluently?"  
  
"Well it's like say having a Cowboy with a Jamaican accent" Kanuka replied as she pulled over "just turns head you see"  
  
"Ah" he replied "I see what you mean, it was fun at Waseda after I grasped the language and could read, everyone was really cool, maybe it would've been good training for my post back in Brixton" he mused.  
  
"What did you do there?"  
  
"Well a Community officer at one of the many high crime areas around there" Trenchard said with a sigh "difficult to say the least"  
  
Kanuka's Radio crackled into life "Mid off, this is Silly point received?"  
  
"Received Silly point" Kanuka said with a groan.  
  
"We're here at the Matsuya, keep us posted out"  
  
"Received" Kanuka said.  
  
****  
  
Gallagher looked at the Matsuya Department store, a massive structure sitting slap bang right in the middle of a row of nearly identical fashion stores and even a Boots, Gallagher recognised Boots anywhere, great for Paracetemol and Pro Plus after a piss up the night before. Seemed strange that even the usually dull grey concrete seemed exciting here, maybe it should be the PR achievement of the millennium he thought as he entered into the main hall, looking up it was amazing a nice glass roof with escalators going from floor to floor as well as clear glass lifts.  
  
"Guv!" came a shout.  
  
Gallagher turned to look behind him, it was Williams, seeing it was him he waved him over, taking out his box and placing a roll up into his mouth.  
  
"Ah not here guv" Williams said, pointing to the obvious no-smoking signs.  
  
"Anything new?" Gallagher asked as he put his box away with a sigh.  
  
"Nope, Goto is in the security room right now, want to see the video feed it's amazing?!" Williams commented.  
  
"May as well" Gallagher replied as Williams walked off, motioning for him to follow.  
  
Flashing their warrant cards to yet another contingent of National Security officers he looked out of the one way windows, looking out at the hundreds of people in the store shopping, perfect place to play with semtex. They  
  
walked up endless stairs, looking at incomprehensible signs whose meanings were probably simple to the extreme.  
  
Finally they came to the video watch room, a voyeur's paradise greeted them with over 50 colour LCD flat screens covering a whole wall area. Gallagher felt like he was having an epileptic fit already in this dark, smoke filled  
  
room.  
  
"Hey Harry!" Goto called "we're all set up"  
  
"Excellent, any sign of Aoi?" Gallagher asked as he shuffled over to Goto, who was sitting down by one of the many security monitors.  
  
"Nope not yet, Clancy and Trenchard have the front of Matsuzakaya covered" murmured Goto as he lit another Silk Cut.  
  
"And Ota and Asuma are outside watching this place" Williams said as he looked at the banks of LCD screens "Christ this is like using a Combine Harvester to look for a needle in a haystack!"  
  
"If he comes in here, we'll find him" Goto said as he breathed in deeply, then looked away to puff out the smoke into an unoccupied corner.  
  
"I told you we should've brought a mini-TV!" Asuma muttered in the driving seat. This was one very, very boring morning.  
  
"You should be keeping your wits about you" Ota replied, arms crossed.  
  
"For what!?" Asuma said pointing outside "what exactly is going come out at us, oh my god!" He shouted jokingly at a small construction truck driving past, its size miniscule compared to a labour that now does its job ten times as quickly "JCB attack Ota get down!"  
  
"Oh grow up!" Ota barked "we're meant to be looking for Aoi if he comes near"  
  
"Jeeze" Asuma sighed as he leaned back on his seat "this is gonna be one loooong day!"  
  
"Wait you idiot!" Ota said, picking up his radio "is that him!?"  
  
Asuma looked up, a young man was crossing the road at one of the designated crossing points, walking towards Matsuya, he looked up from his black sports pullover, shaggy, uncut hair, short glasses, IC3. In other words his man.  
  
"Silly point the batsman has stepped up to the crease" Asuma said into his radio.  
  
****  
  
"Got it" Goto said "Harry, he's here, west entrance"  
  
Gallagher looked up at one of the Screens, sure enough his man was there.  
  
"Ask them if they've seen any European men enter the building earlier?" he asked Goto.  
  
Goto asked one of the security operators.  
  
"No sir, no Ganjin like that have been in at all" shrugged the operator.  
  
"Watch him" Goto replied "tell me if he does anything"  
  
"Okay!"  
  
Goto got up and turned to Gallagher "suggestions then?"  
  
"I would go with the original plan and just follow him around, see if anything happens" Gallagher said.  
  
"Heh, what happened to the bring him in routine?" Goto smiled.  
  
"Just wanted to see how Captain Shinobu was when mad" Gallagher grinned "you can be rational and very angry at the same time y'know"  
  
"I see" Goto nodded "in the meantime you want to send your DC Williams down there to keep tabs on him just in case he does do something silly?"  
  
Gallagher shrugged "don't see why not" he said turning to Williams "you know what to do"  
  
"Yes Guv" Williams nodded before taking a radio and walking out onto the shop floor.  
  
****  
  
"I don't see what you're getting at Chief Engineer" the Rover MG representative said "all I was told was that this had to be ready just to walk around and please the crowds at LabourExpo"  
  
"Nuh-uh!" Macca said "I had to refit the fuel tanks the bloody thing is so unbalanced!"  
  
"We already did a combat simulation with it and I for one am not happy with it!" Sakaki added "now you either give us the updated engine equipment Rolls Royce Aviation handed over the other night at Longbridge in the UK or this thing  
  
is not going anywhere!"  
  
"I'm sorry, but the Fairfax Mk.1 is still the property of MG Rover and we demand that you put the old tanks back in time for LabourExpo" the rep said.  
  
Sakaki inside was incensed, this machine was perfect now thanks to the work they had put on it, but pure red tape was threatening to blow it all away.  
  
"Sorry mate no deal" Macca replied "the Fairfax is on standby for immediate use and if I use the old set-up, I'll be looking at a disaster"  
  
"I'm sorry but that's what I have been told" the rep shrugged.  
  
"What's going on!?" Shinobu called down from the above gantry.  
  
Sakaki and Macca both looked up, "MG Rover want to take the Fairfax back because we changed the config round" Sakaki shouted up in Japanese "you think you could make him go away please ma'aam?"  
  
Shinobu smiled and looked at the Rep, who sadly (being British and all, the poor thing) was looking up, expecting the head of Division to comply with the company's request.  
  
"I can't do anything" Shinobu shrugged, this time in Standard English "I impounded it last night" she winked as she turned around and walked back to her office.  
  
"Wha!?" the Rep blinked "she can't do that can she!?"  
  
"What the head of Division says, goes around these parts mate" Macca smiled.  
  
"We can't do anything until the notice has gone through" Sakaki said.  
  
"Then there is Captain Goto's report" Macca added.  
  
"Not to mention the Chief Engineers statement" Sakaki continued.  
  
"The Jockey's statement" Macca added.  
  
"Division's impound receipt has to be sent in the post"  
  
"Might get lost in the post, now you don't want that, would you sir?" Macca asked, looking up.  
  
"No, not at all Engineer" Sakaki shook his head "not at all"  
  
"Okay, okay I get the picture!" the rep said, rubbing the back of his head "you can keep the Fairfax, I'll get Longbridge to back down okay?"  
  
"That and get Rolls Royce to give us the new specs?" Sakaki asked.  
  
"yes, yes of course, good day!" the rep said, turning and walking quickly out of the hanger, looking behind him a couple of times as he did.  
  
"What can I say" Sakaki said as Macca held in his laughter "we're the people to go to if you want things done!"  
  
****  
  
It was quite strange, in a sea of Oriental faces, one Ganjin was following someone might've aroused quite some suspicion, if not curiosity among the native Japanese, however this was Tokyo, looking more like an international city than ever. Here Australians rubbed shoulders with their Canadian Commonwealth counterparts as workers in the City's countless cafes, tea shops and restaurants of innumerable descriptions.  
  
"He's milling around guv" Williams said into his radio. Goto and Gallagher watched from their LCD screen. Aoi wasn't doing anything, simply looking around, eating a Panini he had picked up from one of the many Starbucks that were springing up all over Japan to feed it's craze for Coffee.  
  
"Standby" Gallagher said into his radio.  
  
"What are you doing?" Goto said, still looking at the LCD screen.  
  
"He's got something big in his rucksack" Gallagher said "large paper wrapper along with the covered plastic for the food he is eating, I know what he is up to"  
  
"You arrest him now and not only will we have lost any chance of getting to your IRA men, we might have extinguished any chance of stopping a bomb at the LabourExpo" Goto explained with a smile "speaking of which, they've just arrived"  
  
"Who have?" Gallagher blinked.  
  
"Screen 14, top left"  
  
Gallagher looked up at the screen and sure enough, in the flesh was Arnwell and O'Tool, climbing the elevator to the electronics section, right where Williams was.  
  
"Jesus bloody-" Gallagher exclaimed grabbing his Radio "Wills get out of the way there, something very big is about to play out"  
  
Williams looked at Aoi, who was heading his way out of the Electronics section, then the other way to O'Tool and Arnwell who were heading his way into the electronics section. He couldn't advance or retire, the only way round this was to step sideways.  
  
Williams with cunning (or laughable perverseness that only a man from the county of Essex could possess), slipped quickly into the female lingerie section, which very strangely shared the same floor space as the electronics section. He caught  
  
some very weird stares and glances as he ducked out of view of the three suspects, making it look like he was 'sniffing knickers' or something.  
  
"We got a photo for the album by the way Wills" Gallagher said, trying to the laughter.  
  
"Wow thanks guv" Wills hissed in a sarcastic tone as he moved off of the shop floor, flashing his pass at the National security assistant as he made his way back to the control rooms.  
  
"What do you think they are doing?" Goto asked, staring at monitor 14.  
  
"No idea" Gallagher replied "they didn't see DC Williams, but by the look of that bulge in his bag they might be up to no good"  
  
"Put surveillance on order" Goto said.  
  
Gallagher nodded and lifted up his radio "They're here" he said "keep watch".  
  
****  
  
"What?" Kanuka sighed in annoyance "what happened to the 'silly on' bullcrap!?"  
  
"Out of the window is my guess" Trenchard said sleepily as he leaned his head out of the window in boredom.  
  
"Hey don't you get tired on me now" Kanuka said with a shove "we've got all afternoon yet"  
  
"Sorry" Trenchard nodded, as he sat up "I'm starving I-" he stopped as he blinked.  
  
They were parked just poking out of a narrow alleyway looking onto one of the smaller roads, down the road was the cafe Tenmaru, which in turn faced the Matsukaya Department Store. Trenchard had his eyes fixed on the other side of the street, there was another access alleyway, probably for fire engines and other emergency vehicles etc to get to the other buildings in the area. What Trenchard had his eyes on however was a scuffle between two boys. Teenagers, probably 14 and 16, the 14 year old was pinned against a wall by the older boy who was making threats and throwing occasionally throwing the odd punch into his belly to press his point.  
  
"What the bloody hell are they doing" Trenchard said, looking at Kanuka.  
  
"Where" Kanuka replied, looking "there?"  
  
"Yeah" Trenchard said, pulling his seatbelt off and putting his crisps to one side "there aren't any police round here.."  
  
"Leave it" Kanuka said "it has nothing to do with our job"  
  
"What!?" Trenchard said in surprise, eyes wide "a kid is getting his bloody head kicked in and you expect me to watch!?"  
  
"We have no choice" Kanuka spat back "this is our mission, not that over there!"  
  
"Sod this" Trenchard said, shooting a glare at Kanuka as he opened the door.  
  
"Tim, you dare get out of this-" Kanuka shouted now before watching Trenchard sprint off, running across the busy street, narrowly dodging the traffic, even leaping over a car bonnet as he got to the alleyway.  
  
"You want this knife in your belly eh?" the older kid shouted.  
  
"No no please just get off of me please!" the other boy cried out, in some pain.  
  
"Say you won't tell the pigs about the local house and I will!" the older kid said, giving the younger kid another punch in the gut, the younger kid slid down to the ground, crying as the older boy laughed, stepping away.  
  
"Oi!" shouted Trenchard as he ran into the older boy, kicking the knife out of his hand.  
  
"Hey!" the older boy shouted "mind you're own fucking business Ganjin!"  
  
"You think it's fun taking boys younger than you eh? Eh!?" Trenchard shouted back, shoving the older boy further and further back "common then, come and pick on someone your own size" he glared, eyes narrowing as he cornered him as the older kid backed into a wall "take a shot at me mate! Common! Common!?" he bellowed in Japanese.  
  
"I'll get my dad!" the older kid yelled back, now in fright rather than confidence.  
  
"Oh yeah!?" Trenchard screamed as he grabbed the older kid and shoved him back against the wall "I'll get my dad too, he's harder than me mate" he barked, face one of aggression "friggin heavyweight champion of the world he is!"  
  
"Let me go" the older boy cowered, his true nature showing "I wasn't going to do anything, honest!"  
  
"You bloody well better not have" Trenchard glared, dropping the boy "or you'll get a visit from me again"  
  
"Ok ok!" the older boy said shakily as he got up and ran out of the alleyway, Trenchard looked round to see that he was gone, then turned back to the younger boy who was in tears on the floor.  
  
"Hey mate, you alright?" he said quietly in Japanese again "I'm police, don't worry I'm police" he smiled as he flashed his warrant card and temporary Tokyo Met Police Card.  
  
"I'm okay, I am really" the boy said, perking up "thank you sir"  
  
"Why was he bullying you?" Trenchard asked "mugging you?"  
  
"He's a stupid bully from school, said he'd beat me up if I didn't do his homework for him" the kid sniffed.  
  
"Ah, well you forget about him okay?" Trenchard said, helping him up "wait, what was this about 'the local house'?"  
  
The kid looked up, in his eyes, Trenchard knew he really wanted to tell him what really happened but then he looked down at the ground and said quietly "nothing sir, really, I have no idea what you are talking about".  
  
Trenchard sighed and fumbled in his shirt pocket "well this must be the number to where I'm based, if you 'remember' something mr?"  
  
"Namekeda" the boy said.  
  
"Ah okay Namekeda-kun" Trenchard said, bending his knees to make himself look smaller "what sports do you like to play?"  
  
The boy blinked, then thought for a second "erm..baseball, football and I run allot too!"  
  
"Football as in Soccer or as in poofy American Football?" Trenchard winked.  
  
"Football of course sir!" Namekeda laughed through the tears.  
  
"Well I'll tell you what, if you remember anything at all, I'll get you an English Premiership football team strip?" he said, handing the boy the card "Arsenal sound good? How about Blackburn Rovers?"  
  
The kid looked at the card, then at Trenchard before saying "no, that won't be necessary sir" wiping a tear he said "Mother will be worried about me, I have to go now"  
  
"Sure mate, watch yourself okay?" Trenchard said.  
  
"Yes sir" the kid smiled as he picked up things that he dropped and ran off round the corner of the alleyway and into the street.  
  
Trenchard sighed to himself as he walked out of alleyway and crossed the street carefully and crossed to the car.  
  
Kanuka ran the passenger window down "get in" she said, showing no emotion.  
  
Trenchard got in but no sooner had his legs slipped into the car than Kanuka slammed the gear into reverse, the tires squealed as the Nissan Primera zoomed down the alleyway, out of sight of anyone in the street. Trenchard's head nearly hit the dashboard as Kanuka slammed the breaks on.  
  
"What in the hell did you think you were doing?" Kanuka shouted.  
  
"I was saving that kid from having a knife stuck up into his chin!" Trenchard said.  
  
"Oh yeah, that's nice, a have-a-go-hero right here!" Kanuka said, hand hitting the steering wheel hard.  
  
"Oh leave it!" Trenchard replied, shaking his head.  
  
"What if the police did appear huh? What if they saw you pushing what looks like a seemingly innocent kid around!?" Kanuka pressed, she wasn't going to let this go "I'll tell you what, they would've dragged you down to that station, find your name in the Ganjin register and sent on the next 747 back to merry old England that's what!"  
  
"Oh how would you bloody know eh!?" Trenchard spat back, shouting himself now "I suppose you've been deported too huh!?"  
  
"Oh don't be stupid Tim!" Kanuka seethed.  
  
"Just because you couldn't be arsed to get up and help him wasn't huh!?" Trenchard said, glaring right back into her eyes, standing up to her. His head was suddenly dragged closer to hers as she grabbed the collar of his pullover, the Sergeant just getting to point of coming to blows with the Constable.  
  
"Yeah common take your best shot, go on!" Trenchard hissed "make sure we're brought in front of Captain Goto and DCI Gallagher because you know what? They'll give you just a bigger bollocking as they will to me"  
  
Kanuka's eyes were wide with anger, one of the very rare times where she had even contemplated striking a fellow officer, she loosened up.  
  
"Now let me tell you, I may not have come from any bloody 'ghetto' or policed Harlem or any other of the crap-holes like that but I tried to be a good copper in Brixton, I tried to help those, Black, White, Asian and Oriental who were either in Crime or effected by crime but I failed, you want to know why!?" Trenchard said, his adrenaline still pumping.  
  
Kanuka was silent, shaking a bit from her clenched muscles.  
  
"Because I was white. Nothing to do with Race mind you but really can you trust a white Ganjin can you Sergeant?" Trenchard smiled "especially when he's got the power of arrest if he suspects you have committed a crime?" he then cocked his head as Kanuka remained silent "I think you hate us Brits y'know Kanuka"  
  
Kanuka shoved Trenchard back into the his side of the car.  
  
"Do what you want to do Constable" she said as she slammed the gear stick into 1st "but it's your funeral if it all hits the fan".  
  
Trenchard just dusted himself down and crossed his arms as they drove back up to the alleyway to look once again onto the road.  
  
****  
  
"What happened there?" Gallagher blinked, looking at the radio. Even Goto's eyes were half open as the transmission from the radio stopped.  
  
"Guess Kanuka pressed her authority I guess" Goto shrugged "she's good at that kind of thing"  
  
Gallagher nodded "They sound like a team though".  
  
"How so?" Williams asked.  
  
"They may argue now, but they know how strong each other are" Goto grinned "Kanuka won't be so uncertain and Trenchard won't be so scared of her now"  
  
"Very true, Trenchard was quite intimidated by her" Gallagher said "now to our present problem" he added, turning back to Screen 14.  
  
"The threesome are still talking" Goto mused "We could either let them do their thing, or wait for the IRA men to leave and arrest Aoi"  
  
Gallagher didn't say anything "wait for them to walk outside" he said quietly "if they go their separate ways then arrest then we'll nail Aoi outside, doing it in a heavily crowded shop will cause too much commotion, if we do a grab quickly outside then we'll be able to smoothly get Aoi bundled into a car"  
  
"That seems to be the best way to go" Goto nodded with approval as the threesome started to head down one of the side escalators.  
  
Gallagher nodded back and lifted up his Radio "Officer Asuma are you ready?"  
  
"Yes sir" Asuma reported back "but do you have any idea what was happening on the radio earlier?"  
  
"No comment" Gallagher sighed "be ready for me in about a minute or two"  
  
"Received sir"  
  
Gallagher picked up his coat "would it be okay if DC Williams hung around with you Goto?"  
  
"Not a problem" shrugged Goto as he lit up on his last B&H.  
  
"Good" nodded Gallagher turning to Williams "well you heard us, stay here and help Captain Goto in any way you can okay?"  
  
"Guv" nodded Williams.  
  
Gallagher paced quickly down the steps and back onto the shop floor, taking a side staircase down to the main entrance to the Matsuya, as he predicted, O'Tool, Arnwell and Aoi were walking out, joking almost as they walked out onto the pavement outside.  
  
"Asuma, three suspects, two foreigners, tall IC3 males, one light red hair the other dark brown can you see them over?" he barked into his radio as he paced over to the exit.  
  
"Yes sir just left, heading north to move round the corner" Asuma replied.  
  
"What did he say, what did he say!?" Ota said excitedly.  
  
"Pipe down!" Asuma said, covering the radio.  
  
"Right get the car ready" Gallagher said "we're following them"  
  
"Yes sir" Asuma nodded "they've gotten into a silver Daihatsu Move, heading north along Chuo Dori"  
  
Gallagher ran out of the store and dived into the Primera "drive, go go!" he said "I don't want to lose them!"  
  
Meanwhile in the control room Williams blinked while Goto held his cigarette in his mouth.  
  
"Guv seemed in a hurry" Williams said after a long silence.  
  
"That's his problem" Goto said as he clicked his neck "he insists on going too fast".  
  
| | 


	7. The Story of the Charmless Export Model ...

"Harry where exactly are you?" Goto yawned into his radio "we got to the forum and Kanuka and Trenchard are still watching  
Matsukaya"  
  
"Well we went through Shibuya, across Roppongi-dori and then further up into Ebisu" Gallagher said as he sat low in his   
seat in the Nissan Primera "they're turning into the car park for the National Park for nature study" Gallagher replied  
pointing "pull over here so we can see at least which direction they'll be going in"  
  
Goto mused for a moment "don't do anything rash, just observe for the moment"  
  
"Fair one" Gallagher replied "we may as well stand Kanuka and Trenchard down?"  
  
"Yes" Goto nodded, "I'll get them to meet up with me and DC Williams at the forum"  
  
"Received, out" Gallagher replied, putting the radio down he looked at it for a moment then up at where the trio were   
walking to.  
  
"The park is very large" Asuma said "There are many small buildings in the reserve, they could go anywhere"  
  
"And Arnwell and O'Tool will recognise me immediately, especially here" Gallagher said, laying back "send Ota out"  
  
"Why Ota!?" Asuma blinked "he'll probably set the trees on fire to smoke them out!" he said sarcastically (in English of  
course so Ota couldn't understand the mud Asuma was pasting over him)"  
  
"I know that's a possibility" Gallagher said, giving a bemused Ota an amused wink "but not even Aoi would know who he was,  
as long as he acts like the dumb arsed native, he'll be pandering to the westerner's vision of a foreigner" he explained  
as he pulled out a roll of duct tape and a miniature microphone connected to a thin khaki coloured wire "tell Ota to follow  
them, find out where they go and use this to monitor their conversation" Gallagher finished as he connected the mike to   
Ota's radio before handing it back to him "this is the only one I brought with me, saved it before I left Special Branch in   
Belfast last year"  
  
Asuma nodded and turned to Ota, now speaking in his mother tongue "alright listen very carefully okay?"  
  
"Okay, okay what do I have to do?"  
  
"Right follow them, keep your distance" Asuma said with great pain "whether they jump around firing guns into the air or  
if they walk on the grass even if a sign tells them not to, you do not I repeat not try to arrest them" Asuma said in a slow,  
almost in a patronising tone to Ota.  
  
"Hey!" Ota snapped grumpily, shoving the radio in his coat pocket "when you get promoted then you can talk to me like that,  
but right now I'm no kid that's for sure"  
  
"Whatever, but if you screw this up..."  
  
"Oh yeah who says I'll screw this up!?" Ota said, almost incensed.  
  
"Nobody I-" Asuma started.  
  
"Look could you get him going, they've gone round that corner and I do not want to lose them okay!?" Gallagher said, rather  
worried that he might have to break them both up in a moment.  
  
****  
  
It was 3 in the afternoon and Kanuka and Trenchard had said nothing since their late morning bust up, Trenchard looked up   
and down the street, looking for somewhere he deemed decent to get something, anything to fill his groaning, moaning   
stomach.  
  
"Hey Kanuka, you want anything to eat?" Trenchard said "we didn't have anything for lunch"  
  
"Officer Clancy come in please" Goto said on the radio "why we couldn't have used our newer radios I don't know" they heard   
him grumble over his breath.  
  
"Clancy here sir" Kanuka said "what's up?"  
  
"You're to stand down, you have about 20 minutes to get over to the forum to meet up with myself and DC Williams" Goto said   
"erm..that's about it, I think...yeah...yeah that's all"  
  
"Thank you sir" Kanuka replied before putting the radio down before looking back at Trenchard "sure you can, I don't mind,   
I'll have whatever"  
  
Trenchard smiled and nodded "brilliant, I've just seen a really interesting place up the road, my treat okay?" he winked   
before getting out of the car and walking off up the street.  
  
Kanuka watched Trenchard walk up the road before settling in front of the today's newspaper which she with her.   
  
About quarter of an hour later, Kanuka was worried. Did Tim get himself lost? Or did he walk into one of the thousands of   
novelty shops that litter Tokyo? She was quite surprised to see Trenchard walking back, carrying a brown paper bag, parts   
of it stained with fat or other liquid. He had what she judged to be either a maniacal grin or a grin of a person who had   
just been reintroduced to solid food after 10 years.  
  
"You won't guess what I got us" Trenchard grinned deeply, almost squirming with glee as he opened the bag.  
  
"No, I don't" Kanuka said with clinical curiosity, looking into the bag which was filled with foil containers with paper  
lids on.  
  
"Well I was walking up the road when I saw something I haven't seen for a year, went inside and had a chat and it seems   
they moved over here from Bradford last year after their son came over to Osaka Tech for a degree" Trenchard explained   
pleasantly.  
  
"Yeah, so what did you get us then" Kanuka asked, still puzzled.  
  
"Well it might be a little early and I would not recommend drinking any sake or beer but..." he smiled then sighed an   
almost orgasmic sigh as he smelt the deeply spicy and almost aromatic smell of an Indian Takeaway.  
  
Kanuka frowned.  
  
"What?" Trenchard asked defensively "I'll tell you one thing, I used to live on these when I lived in London" he said,   
almost proudly as he started to point out bits "I got two Nhaan breads, 6 Pompadoms, a Tandoori Mixed grill, mixed rice,   
an onion bhaji and a chicken korma" he said as he pointed each bit out.  
  
"But we don't have any plates or utensils" Kanuka said.  
  
"Ah! here is the ingenious bit!" Trenchard smiled "the foil containers act as plates!" he said as he took two clean and   
empty containers out "have you had an Indian before?"  
  
"Well, I'll be honest.." she paused "no"  
  
"No?" Trenchard blinked "you'd think they'd make a killing selling this stuff in New York" he said as he broke a bit off   
of his plain pompadom and dipped it with the Tandoori juices (which he had asked to be made extra hot) "ahhhh, pure heaven"   
he said as he took a bite "here you have some of the Korma, it's not too hot so you should be okay with it"  
  
Kanuka looked at Trenchard as he offered a fork to her. Then she smiled slightly and took an empty tray.  
  
****  
  
"Right" Gallagher said as he watched Ota run across the road to catch up with the three suspects "he should've turned the   
volume on his radio"  
  
"Yes sir, but what if they suspect anything?"  
  
"Then we'll have to cordon off the reserve and send in blood thirsty bloodhounds" Gallagher said with a smile.  
  
"Great" Asuma sighed in Japanese "humours sarcasm"  
  
Ota panted a bit, using his tracksuit to make up the image of a jogger, using the reserve to jog his way back to nature.   
He slowed his pace as he caught sight of the three, walking round a small pond, which was probably used by nesting birds   
or something. Stopping to 'adjust' his shoelaces he peered at them.   
  
The trio appeared to be moving towards a camouflaged hut on the pond's edge, what those in the know of bird watching   
would call a 'hide'. Standing up, Ota started jogging again, watching them walk inside and close the door as he closed   
on them. He would have to check to the side to see if there was a rear window.  
  
""They went into a bird watching hut" Ota hissed into the mike (which was   
connected to his radio).  
  
Gallagher nodded, listening intently as he waited "he should be doing it   
now" he muttered.  
  
Asuma looked across at the calm DCI "do you think it will work?"  
  
"It will" Gallagher replied, taking out a small notebook "when we get the   
info that we need, we'll get back, you'll need to get back on watch anyway"  
  
"But what about those three?" Asuma blinked.  
  
"They won't be rushed" Gallagher smiled "they'll probably do a trial run,   
thankfully they think that all the Cops went home the day they went in"  
  
Ota crept round the side, "there must be a window at the back of the hide" he thought, he then saw the blacked out window,   
there was a small hole in the lower left corner, creeping along he placed the radio at the base of the hut, the tape already   
stuck to it as he pressed down, making sure it stuck firmly to the side. Then he pulled up the cable connecting to the mike,   
popping the head of the mike through the crack and jamming it in there. Then he turned the mike volume up high before   
slipping back to the path.  
  
Gallagher shushed as he heard the conversation "That's O'Tool" he said quietly as the conversation from the hut started, he   
switched on a Dictaphone and then started writing down what they were saying in shorthand.  
  
***  
  
"So you wanted us, what do you need us for?" O'Tool said, sounding like he   
was drinking something.  
  
"Our house needs to make a point against the big labour corporations at the LabourExpo" Aoi said "however, our experience   
in explosives is very limited, we need the people with the experience to teach us how to do it"  
  
"Heh, aye it'd be easy" Arnwell chuckled "ye have the cash payment doncha?"  
  
"750,000 Euros now" Aoi replied "750,000 if you do the job"  
  
"Ah sod the Euros!" O'Tool said, aggravated "We need dollars not monopoly   
money!"  
  
"Of course, I'll make the changes accordingly" Aoi said, surprised to say the least at the confidence of these men.  
  
"Are ye sure we weren't followed?" Arnwell asked "ye're drivin' a nicked car   
of course"  
  
"Of course not!" Aoi said with a light chuckle "I make sure nobody follows   
me, we'll put you in our safe house"  
  
"Aye" Arnwell said "we can get started with the training when we get there,   
then do a trial run somewhere 'bouts tomorrow"  
  
"Where though?" O'Tool cut in.  
  
"We could try where we met up earlier today?" Aoi suggested.  
  
"That could be the best thing to do" O'Tool nodded, "we can see what the   
Forum is like as well"  
  
"Now what about food?" O'Tool said "what do you lads eat anyway?"  
  
"There are plenty of dishes available, I will cover the cost" Aoi replied.  
  
***  
  
Gallagher looked up to see Ota slip into the car "good man" he grinned.  
  
"We're all done here" Gallagher said with a smile as he flipped his pad closed and then turned the Dictaphone off, label   
the tape and slip it into a plastic seal able bag "get us out of here and to the forum" he added as Ota slipped back into  
the car.  
  
Goto sipped his coffee, sitting on one of the forum's cafes, preparations were going on to set up the massive space in the  
forum for the LabourExpo.  
  
"This reminds me of being in the TA y'know" Williams said as he saw the Hishii Military exhibit's cardboard cutouts be   
carried.  
  
"How so?" Goto said as he frowned at the no smoking sign on the wall next to him, discreetly placing his packet of Silk Cut   
back into his coat pocket.  
  
"Well in 1998 they finally sorted out Bosnia, the Soviets as far as we knew had no interest into tapping into Tito's old   
domain so they let the EU pick up the remains" Willams said, face turning into a half-bitter scowl "sadly because our  
nice little people in government had cut back again, the only troops available to go into Bosnia with SFOR were the  
Territorials"  
  
"And you were one of them?"  
  
"Yeah, you have three Labor units in the TA, one operational combat unit using the cheapest ones you can find, the second as  
a mothballed reserve and then there was the maintenance and control unit, which was us" Willams explained "yeah,   
no Helldivers in the British Army mate" Williams grinned "even if it was a national necessity, which it was back then, you   
still needed one thing. Money"  
  
"That's been a bit of a reoccurring theme with you Brits" Goto smiled "your scrooge like government"  
  
"Yeah, and we still fall on our face in this brave new world economy" Willams chuckled "anyway, we were sent out to   
decommission the old Warsaw Pact Labors that the Serbs had 'lent' to their Bosnian-Serb friends, incredible things, I'd tell  
you one thing, even if one of our regular army units now came up against one of them, I'd put my money on the Warsaw Pact   
model" Willams shook his head when he said that "a bloody farce that was, a tin pot army like that had even better   
equipment than what is considered the most professional set of armed forces in the world"  
  
Goto grinned "hey look on the bright side, at least that was the only thing you had to do out there"  
  
"What disable labors?" Willams asked as he looked up.  
  
"Yeah" Goto said, as he looked at the CCTV pictures of Arnwell, O'Tool and Aoi standing in the shopping centre.  
  
"We dismantled them and sent them back to the UK for examination, I found out later that the UK government sold them off   
for scrap. They would've been more use than the crap we have right now in the army"  
  
"Look on the bright side" Goto said as he put the photos down "at least you don't have to worry about the runaway models  
that our Military spew out every year"  
  
"True" nodded Williams "same again?" he asked, lifting the empty Coffee cup"  
  
"Thanks" Goto nodded as he peered outside "Gallagher and co are here"  
  
"Wonder where Kanuka and Trenchard are?" Willams said as he came back with two more cups.  
  
"They said they had to make a bit of a detour" Goto replied.  
  
****  
  
"You've been in there for 30 minutes!" Trenchard said as he leaned next to the entrance to a Ladies public toilet "I'm sure  
the Indian wasn't that bad"  
  
"Oh yeah well next time, try giving me something that won't make me make me this sick" a muffled shout came from inside of   
the toilet, followed by loud groaning and coughing as Kanuka threw up again into the toilet.  
  
"It was your own fault for drinking Diet Coke all morning, you know fizzy drinks don't mix with food like that"  
  
"But I didn't know I was going to have that for lunch!" Kanuka shouted back "dinner maybe but not for lunch". Suddenly  
all went quiet from inside the toilet.  
  
"What's wrong now?" Trenchard sighed.  
  
"Do you have any toilet paper?" Kanuka asked embarrassingly.  
  
"For Christ's sake" Trenchard grumbled as he searched in his jacket pocket "here have my tissues" he said, throwing a packet  
over the side "I'll go get some water so hurry up, we're late"  
  
"We wouldn't be late if you hadn't have taken us for a culinary misadventure from Bombay!" Kanuka said, annoyed with her  
sudden illness.  
  
"Aww shush" Trenchard said as he walked off to cross the road to get to a small supermarket on the other side of the road.  
  
By the time Trenchard had gotten back, Kanuka was out and getting into the car.  
  
"You okay now?" Trenchard asked as he slipped into the Primera. He looked at Kanuka, blinking at her pale colour.  
  
"I think I'm gonna throw up again" Kanuka moaned, taking the water that Trenchard offered.  
  
"Hmmm, Delhi Belly!" Trenchard grinned "I think it's time you went home" he said as he picked up the radio.  
  
"Commander Goto this is PC Trenchard, receive over"  
  
"Goto here, where have you two gotten to?" Goto said into the radio as Gallagher, Asuma and Ota sat down at the table.  
  
"Kanuka is quite unwell, she needs to sleep it off, requesting permission to take her back to her apartment"  
  
"Well if she's that unwell-" Goto replied. Trenchard opened the channel again as Kanuka opened the door and ran to the   
nearest bush.   
  
"oi!" Trenchard called out to Kanuka "if this was London you'd get a £50 fine for that!"  
  
"Well.." Goto said, raising an eyebrow "take her home, in fact on your way back, stop off at the supermarket and pick up  
some food before you get back to base"  
  
"Yes sir" Trenchard nodded as he started the engine, Kanuka using one of the tissues to wipe her mouth.  
  
"Oh and another thing" Goto said as he stood to get some sugar "Gallagher wants you to find out the exchange rate for   
Euros into dollars as well"  
  
"Sure, any reason why?"  
  
"No idea, he'll explain soon"   
  
"Okay sir, out" Trenchard said as he turned off the radio and looked to Kanuka who looked a little bit better "lets get you  
home" he grinned.  
  
"No funny stuff" frowned Kanuka as Trenchard drove off.  
  
****  
  
Goto turned off the Dictaphone when the recording ended, taking off his 1 piece headphone "interesting" he said as he looked  
over the shorthand "but I don't see how they could get that much money"  
  
Gallagher nodded "they are a small scale organisation?"  
  
"They are" Goto replied "that's why I'm puzzled as to how they got this much cash together"  
  
"Drugs maybe?" Gallagher offered.  
  
"No way" Asuma shook his head "the Yakuza would crucify them if they moved into their old markets"  
  
"Car crime is also out of the question" Goto added.  
  
"Have there been any big bank robberies in Japan recently?" Gallagher asked Goto "Security Van hijackings, Airport raids,  
that kind of thing"  
  
"A couple, but not enough was stolen to finance this" Goto said "we'll just have to look harder that's all"  
  
"Guess we'll have to look harder at who the hell is financing this" Gallagher said as he sipped his tea.  
  
"I could guess big business" Goto shrugged "who knows, but that's what we need to find out in the long run"  
  
"But who would have anything to gain from the destruction of LaborExpo?" Asuma asked as he stirred his coffee.  
  
"Anyone from Hishii to Schaft" Goto replied.  
  
"Schaft especially, they have the most to lose here, the big world expos is where their competitors get most of their cash"  
Gallagher added.  
  
"Who did the EDA threaten exactly?" Goto asked "do we have the actual case briefing with us?"  
  
"No and no" shook Gallagher as he drank from his cup "my case was on the RIRA pair and that was it"  
  
"It'll be interesting to see how this develops" Goto smiled "who knows, we could have a charge of Corporate Terrorism"  
  
Gallagher nodded, leaning back "I say that Schaft is in on this, they want to sabotage the Expo to give it more time to  
entice business it's way"  
  
"We can't do anything though" Asuma said as he finished his coffee.  
  
"True" Goto nodded "but we can investigate it further till we can do something, as in how they are linked to the EDA and   
RIRA"  
  
"So what do we do right now?" Gallagher asked "I guess the forum can look after itself, the amount of security I see is,   
well far more than one would think is needed"  
  
"Get back home and get on shift" Goto said looking at his watch "we've been out long enough"  
  
****  
  
"Is this the turning?" Trenchard asked as he turned to go down a narrow street, surrounded by seemingly endless apartment   
blocks.  
  
"Yes, it is" Kanuka groaned "ohh goddammit" she cursed as Trenchard slowed down a bit.  
  
"Could've sworn I saw that car before" Trenchard mused before shrugging.  
  
"Here" Kanuka said as she half opened the door, getting out and running to the door to the apartment block.  
  
"Hey slow down" Trenchard said as he locked the doors, running after her.  
  
The run up the stairs was a challenging one at best, Trenchard catching up with Kanuka halfway down the corridor to her   
apartment.  
  
"I'll get the kettle on while you spend time in the bathroom!" Trenchard said as he let Kanuka in.  
  
"What the hell is that supposed to mean" Kanuka glared, then convulsed as she was sick again, running to the Bathroom.  
  
"What the hell is th- that's what I meant!" Trenchard shouted back, closing the door and walking to what he considered the   
kitchen "right tea, coffee, lemsip, anything?" he said to himself as he searched though the cupboards.  
  
"Hey Kanuka where is the Tea here?"  
  
"Top left cupboard in the kitchen" came a painful reply in the bathroom.  
  
Trenchard sighed before opening the kettle to see if there was any water in there, filling it up at the sink, he turned it   
on while he looked for some tea. He peered out of the window, to check out the neighbourhood. It seemed pleasant enough, cars  
lined up on either side of the road, it was still wide enough to get a fire engine through or something (he noted things   
like that). He looked down at their car.   
  
Here he frowned, there were several people standing around it, looking inside, and looking as though they were going to do   
something not very nice to it. Looking behind him he thought of Kanuka ripping his head off if he intervened, then he  
thought of a better idea. Taking out his J-phone he started to dial the local Police station when he heard something.  
  
A quiet scraping at the door, like someone was trying to break the lock quietly without causing too much noise. Blinking  
Trenchard dialled Emergency services instead quickly turning to the bathroom.  
  
"Kanuka, better get out here quickly!" he said as he reached the Police Station.  
  
"Please state your emergency" the operator said.  
  
"Police, am off duty policeman, number 56303"  
  
"State your situation Officer" the operator said as she typed away.  
  
"In potentially lethal situation, am trapped in apartment, several unknown suspects forcing entry as I speak, address 24G,  
Sansuzo Aparment Building, Shibuya"  
  
"Understood, appropriate units are en-route"   
  
"Good I-" Trenchard said as he suddenly heard boots at the door, the people outside obviously overhearing Trenchard's   
conversation on the phone and getting a bit more hasty "bollocks, sorry" he said as he threw the phone to the couch,  
grabbing his extendable steel baton and clicking it into full length "Kanuka get out here now, we have visitors!" he shouted.  
  
"Okay I'm coming!" Kanuka shouted back out. It was too late however as the door came crashing down and three, young men   
stormed inside, faces covered by balaclavas and brandishing metal piping.  
  
"Bloody hell" Trenchard cursed himself as he took a step back, making his Baton look as big as possible "back off, I want  
to hurt you" he said in Japanese.  
  
"Ha!" replied one "fucking Ganjin, you hurt one of our younger members, we're gonna teach you a lesson!" with that he lunged  
in with his large metal pipe at Trenchard, the others following. It was then that Kanuka emerged.  
  
"What the!?" she exclaimed at the knocked down door, she blinked even wider when she saw two men trying to beat the crap out  
of Trenchard while one had heard Kanuka come out.  
  
"Ah, I see the Englishman's whore has come out!" he shouted, obviously not knowing who exactly he was up against.  
  
"Try saying that with your all your teeth removed" Kanuka said coldly as she took a step forward.  
  
"Bold words for a woman" he laughed. He stopped laughing when Kanuka struck with her concealed baton, clicking it open in   
mid sweep, it's hard, heavy steel structure slammed straight into the man's gut, his eyes almost popping out with the   
sudden disappearance of any air in his lungs. Kanuka (who was pretty annoyed at this point) swung her around, bringing her   
bare foot up and round, striking the side of the stunned man's head in a perfect roundhouse kick, his head slamming into the   
side of the wall with a cringe forcing crunch, as the man slid down to the floor, a couple of teeth fell out.  
  
"Dick" she muttered as she stepped over the groaning body and towards the melee in the Living Room.  
  
Trenchard had a bit more difficult time of it, he had managed to clout one of the thugs round the head with his steel baton   
but had been forced into a corner by the more burly one, dodging the thug's attacks, Trenchard was running out of places to   
dodge to. The Thug smiled as he stepped closer, raising his knife for a hard strike, Trenchard raised his scuffed steel baton  
in defence.   
  
The attack never came, the thug groaned and fell forward as Kanuka thwacked him behind the knees with her steel baton. The  
Thug though never stayed for seconds, pushing Trenchard into the wall before he could do anything, he joined he comrade (who  
had since recovered from Trenchard's head blow) in fleeing the scene.  
  
"You okay?" Kanuka asked looking at the slightly shocked Trenchard.  
  
"Yeah fine, cheers for the backup" he smiled as he saw the third one trying to get up and stagger out.  
  
"Ah no you don't!" Trenchard said, leaping over the couch and into the hallway where he was, rugby tackling the poor fellow.  
  
"I'm arresting you for Forced Entry, Assaulting a Constable and possession of a lethal weapon, you may not say anything, but  
what you do say will be taken down as evidence, do you have anything to say sir?" he said as he pinned the man down, reaching  
for his hidden cuffs.  
  
The man garbled something in very complex Japanese, something that Trenchard had not learned yet.  
  
"What did he say?" Trenchard asked as he slipped the cuffs on, making the thug groan in pain as he tightened them up.  
  
"He said, he'll have something to say when he kills you" Kanuka smiled.  
  
"Nonce" Trenchard muttered as he lifted the Thug up and shoved him on the couch as the sound of sirens filled the air.  
  
"Guess we cleaned up" Kanuka said as she looked around her apartment.  
  
"We'll need to clean this up though" Trenchard said as he looked at the door, rubbing his brow.  
  
"Yeah" Kanuka nodded "Well at least I feel a bit less queasy now"  
  
"Maybe action for you is an Anti-oxidant, get what I mean?" Trenchard winked.  
  
Kanuka sighed as she looked around her wreaked apartment. Oh well, another day in Tokyo. 


	8. The Story of the Charmless Export Model ...

Kanuka's apartment was a shambles, doors knocked in, a head through the thin plaster   
  
wall, and two arrests, the other thugs had made good their escape just before the   
  
police had arrived.  
  
  
Trenchard clicked his neck, he was tired, stressed out, been attacked and shouted at.   
  
Sitting on what was left of the couch, holding his cup of tea rather closely, almost like   
  
someone was going to take it away from him for being naughty.  
  
  
Gallagher frowned at Trenchard "come on look lively lad" he said "what do you think   
  
happened?"  
  
  
"Well four blokes crashed in through the front door, and then proceeded to try to   
  
knock seven bells out of me and Kanuka over there"  
  
  
Gallagher looked at Kanuka as she pointed out the dent in the hall wall where one of   
  
the thugs had met his match.   
  
Goto just stared at the dent with raised eyes.  
  
  
"I see" Gallagher said after a pause, surprised himself before leaning in, mouthing   
  
"did she do-?"  
  
  
Trenchard nodded slowly, Gallagher mouth did a silent wow before getting back to   
  
business "I'm still wondering why the hell they came in here in the first place"  
  
  
"Easy" Gallagher smiled as he leaned back "to shut the two of ye up", this caught a bit   
  
of a glance from Trenchard and raised an eyebrow or two in the hallway.  
  
  
"Well its simple, I've seen it happen many a time back in Ulster" Gallagher explained   
  
"sometimes, it'd be a Provo gang blast bombing or kneecapping a loyalist man or an   
  
RUC man, on the other side of the coin, you'd have a loyalist gang dragging   
  
Nationalists and RUC men out of their houses and beating them up in the street"  
  
He smiled "it's all in order to create an example out of yous, that the EDA are not   
  
afraid of any foreign investigation snooping around their arses, maybe even a signal   
  
that they're not afraid of the Yakuza?" he said, looking in Asuma's direction.  
  
  
"Couldn't have been organised crime" Asuma said, baffled himself as he looked at all   
  
the broken stuff on the floor "and even the EDA wouldn't challenge the Yakuza, at   
  
least not right now"  
  
  
"Did any of you do anything earlier in the day to cause this?" Goto asked from the   
  
hall.  
  
  
"Well there was one thing" Trenchard said sheepishly.  
  
  
"He broke up a fight on the other side of the street between two kids" Kanuka added   
  
"the bigger kid was driven off by Trenchard"  
  
  
Trenchard nodded "the bigger kid was threatening the smaller kid not to talk about   
  
'the local house' or he'll-"  
  
  
"The what?" Asuma said in unison with Goto said as he peeked his head round the   
  
corner.  
  
  
"The House" Trenchard repeated "why is there something about it?"  
  
  
Goto nodded "well at least we know who paid you a visit then"  
  
  
"Who did then?" Gallagher looked at Goto with an uncharacteristic tilt in his head.  
  
  
"The EDA of course, this is their local 'house'" Goto looked back "I think Aoi knows   
  
we're sniffing around him"  
  
  
Gallagher nodded and mused "the question is do we try and bring in all three or just   
  
get Aoi then leave the IRA pair to the regular police?" he sat down next to Trenchard   
  
who had put down his untouched cup of tea, picking it up and taking a sip.  
  
  
"Hey guv thats my-" Trenchard blinked.  
  
  
"Oi, bugger off and brew ye own bloody cuppa!" Gallagher bit back before taking   
  
another sip and looking up at Goto with the look of a casual man with an interest in   
  
Model Trains at his local Enthusiasts club "I say get Aoi."  
  
  
  
"Why not the IRA pair?" Asuma asked "wouldn't it be better to get the people who are   
  
training the EDA in the first place?"  
  
  
"Nah, if they know that we're onto them by nicking the pair, the EDA won't want to   
  
incriminate themselves by continuing with the bomb" Gallagher shook his head as he   
  
sipped some more from the tea.  
  
  
"Then how are we going to pick up Aoi?" Asuma asked "we more used to   
  
apprehending labor pilots than hardened terrorists"  
  
  
Gallagher grinned "oh! That? Leave that to me, they'll probably be slightly bruised by   
  
the time I get em' but they should be okay" he stood "anyway, I need to pick up   
  
Williams and head off to the British Embassy to drop off the radios we were using   
  
today, you're going back home after this?" he asked Goto.  
  
  
"I have to, got paperwork to get through" Goto said as he rubbed an eye.  
  
  
Gallagher nodded walked swiftly out of the room, leaving Trenchard where he was,   
  
nodding to Kanuka as she tried to patch up the dent in the side of the wall.  
  
  
"Is he serious?" Asuma blinked at Goto.  
  
  
"He can do it, if you want someone to find a terrorist, he's the man" he walked to a   
  
seat on the now battered three piece suite and sat down onto it with the force of a   
  
salary man running on empty after a hard days work "Asuma, what do you think of   
  
the theory that big business would get involved in something like this?"  
  
  
Asuma himself walked to a seat, sitting next to Trenchard (who had elected to stay   
  
silent for the time being) "very probable" he quirked an eyebrow "why?"  
  
  
"Who do you think would pull off something like that in the labor industry?"  
  
  
"Schaft" Asuma said strongly "they have been in many copyright infringement and   
  
corporate sabotage and espionage cases"  
  
  
Goto placed a cigarette in his mouth and lit up "well as long as we don't have the   
  
evidence to even link Schaft, then we as a police force can't go throwing accusations   
  
around, until then we can't do anything to push that theory further"  
  
  
Kanuka walked in, wiping her brow, she moved past Goto and Asuma towards the   
  
kitchen.  
  
  
"How much do you think all the damage will cost to repair?" Asuma asked.  
  
  
"Much more than my salary could ever afford" she said quietly, perhaps her   
  
demeanour had been pierced by such a shattering intrusion into her private home, her   
  
castle.  
  
  
Trenchard still said nothing, still a bit shy as he waited for another drink after   
  
Gallagher had left the apartment with the mug, he was wondering he'd bother to bring   
  
it back when he's finished with it.  
  
  
"Hello everyone" Noa smiled happily as he peered round the knocked through door   
  
"wow so this is what happened?"  
  
  
"Off shift?" Asuma asked as he looked round from his seat.  
  
  
"Yep, brought dinner too!" she smiled, stepping over the bin bags of broken stuff and   
  
plaster, carrying a carrier bag with bento boxes, placing them on the non smashed part   
  
of the coffee of the Living room.  
  
  
"Smashing!" Trenchard smiled as he waited for his box, looking up at Asuma and   
  
Goto "we'll still be able to do the show at the Expo right sir?" he said in Japanese,   
  
now relaxed enough to speak in a more familiar tongue.  
  
  
Asuma looked at Goto too, Goto's face was one a slight bemusement that people were   
  
looking at him (like that had never happened before) "I should presume so" he said,   
  
taking his bento box and opening it up "Oh lucky!" he said, totally bored at what was   
  
inside.  
  
  
Noa placed one in front of where Kanuka was about to sit down as she handed   
  
everyone a cup of tea and coffee, Trenchard happily munched his bento, Noa sat   
  
down to get into hers and Asuma had already gone half way.  
  
  
"I haven't had a thing to eat all day you know" Asuma mumbled with all the food   
  
stuffed in his mouth.  
  
  
There was silence after that, the urge to eat overcame all other urges as was the case   
  
for a group of people who lived in the middle of nowhere with nothing coming close   
  
to a little noodle bar to provide food for them within a 5 mile radius.  
  
  
Trenchard watched the scene, the atmosphere was comfortable, jovial even, but there   
  
wasn't so much as a murmur as they all eat. For a person who had taken Sociology for   
  
his AS-levels when he was a teen, this was a highly interesting (if slightly perverse)   
  
thing to watch and mentally note. He caught a bit of a glimpse from Kanuka, realising   
  
he might get a box over his head for staring, he got back to the meal.  
  
  
****  
  
  
The journey back to the Landfill site was as uneventful as dinner at Kanuka, they had   
  
managed to salvage and reconnect the door back onto the hinges, a bit of a cheer came   
  
up when that happened, apart from that not much else as the Nissan Primera drove   
  
them back to the landfill site, it needed to go back to the Embassy tomorrow.  
  
  
"Maybe they'll have some spray paint to cover over the scratches" Noa suggested.  
  
  
"Sure they will, how do you think they cover up the daily knocks our units get?"   
  
Asuma replied.  
  
  
This was of course the car which Kanuka and Trenchard used today and was   
  
scratched up by the EDA gang before they decided to drop in on the pair moments   
  
later.  
  
  
Goto sat in the front, Kanuka drove and Trenchard sat in between Noa and Asuma,   
  
looking straight ahead at the dark (and bumpy) road.  
  
  
"Where do you think DCI Gallagher went sir?" asked Asuma.  
  
  
"He was going to pick up DC Williams at the department store last I heard" Goto said,   
  
enjoying the ride with the leather seating and everything.  
  
  
"oh I just want to go to bed" groaned Asuma, realising that he won't get a lift back   
  
into town and home, this was just dawning on Noa and Trenchard too.  
  
  
"You're lucky" Kanuka said as he scratched her forehead "at least you have an   
  
apartment to go home to"  
  
  
"True" Trenchard nodded as he took a sip from a can of coffee (*note is the coffee   
  
pre-heated in the machine or is it cold*).  
  
  
"It can't be that bad" Noa said, lifting the mood "at least we won't be late"  
  
  
There was a pause, each person nodding in the car thoughtfully before Trenchard   
  
looked up.  
  
  
"Oh bloody hell" he cursed "I've forgotten my toothbrush haven't I!?" he said in a   
  
question that wasn't meant to be answered as is the way with South Eastern dialects.  
  
  
Noa sighed "maybe you're right, it is that bad"  
  
  
The car turned into the landfill and drove round to the dirt car park. It was 10pm,   
  
night was drawing in. However it wasn't drawing in quickly enough for Gallagher as   
  
he was driven into the Embassy car park, he stepped out of the car with Williams.  
  
  
"You may as well stay here" Gallagher said as he walked to the entrance "I'll drop   
  
these radios off at the reception then we'll head for the flat"  
  
  
Williams nodded and got back into the car as Gallagher walked across the car park to   
  
the main entrance, a box of radios in his arms, looking to his left he looked at the cars   
  
owned by the embassy, Rover 75's, Jaguar S-Types, Range Rovers.   
  
  
The only exception to the rule was a black executive car parked in one of the visitor   
  
slots. Shrugging he walked on and onto the steps leading up to the main reception, out   
  
of the very same doors came Ayhagami and (of course) his minder Bhatou, quickly   
  
making their way down the steps, not noticing Gallagher behind the box he was   
  
carrying.  
  
  
Gallagher watched them walk down before quickly walking the rest of the way up the   
  
stairs and into the Reception, there he was quite surprised to find Sir Andrew standing   
  
by the Reception desk, looking through a folder or two.  
  
  
"What was he doing here?" was all that Gallagher said as he dumped the box on the   
  
table, startling the young Office Temp by the box coming out of the blue and nearly   
  
hitting her in the face.  
  
  
"No idea old boy" he said as he handed the Folders to Gallagher "but coming at this   
  
time of night, asking the kind of questions which gave you the wrong impressions.."   
  
he stopped.  
  
  
Gallagher looked out of the building through a window onto the car park, Ayhagami   
  
was in the car, looking up at the building, mobile phone stuck to the side of his head   
  
like a limpet as Bhatou drove him out of the car park.  
  
  
"I don't trust him" Sir Andrew said as Gallagher stared, taking out another of those   
  
tiny Whiskey bottles out of his coat pocket, opening it and downing it, raising   
  
eyebrows from an escorted Japanese Business delegation leaving as they   
  
passed the DCI.  
  
  
"Who knows" Gallagher said as he gave the empty bottle to the Office Temp "maybe   
  
Goto knows something we don't"  
  
  
****  
  
  
This and many other thoughts circled round slowly, in perfect formation and at just   
  
the right speed (as not to disturb the harmonious balance) inside of Goto's head as he   
  
looked at the desk, all the information he had gotten from a dizzying array of   
  
International, Supra-national and foreign police and intelligence sources. A Radio sat   
  
next to him; he had a couple of bets on the late night Royal Stakes at Hong Kong   
  
Racecourse.  
  
  
"It's a bit obvious don't you think?" Goto said as he mulled over the reports, security   
  
briefings, and minutes of meetings and conferences that lay before him.  
  
  
"The case you're handling right now?" Shinobu said, looking up from a report she was   
  
typing at that moment.  
  
  
"Yeah" Goto nodded "they (the terrorists) walk into the most crowded place with the   
  
biggest CCTV covereage in the city, then drive without a care in the world in a stolen   
  
car of all things around town" he looked up with a smile "apparently Ota made some   
  
much noise that would wake even the most decayed of dead people"  
  
  
"You think DCI Gallagher knows this?"  
  
  
"If he didn't, he'd be at home right now" Goto said as he picked up another report "got   
  
a friend of mine at HQ to go to the Embassy to exchange Intel with the British, two   
  
folders for two folders, he said he saw Gallagher walk in and talk to Sir Andrew"  
  
  
Goto closed the second file and looked up at the clock "and when he does get here, I   
  
hope he'll be thinking the same things I am right now"  
  
  
Elsewhere, there was sleeping, night fishing and frantic work going on, on the two   
  
Patlabors being used for the Labor-Expo in a couple of days time. Now confident he   
  
had enough know how to maintain the Fairfax, Sakaki had now left Macca to his own   
  
devices on the machine he now loved.  
  
  
"Hey Jimmy lad" he shouted over to one of the maintenance crew "would you connect   
  
the cooling hose like" he turned to the two next to him "lift the left half of the cooling   
  
belt into the fitting position" he picked up his radio "Macca here, where in the bloody   
  
'ell is my fooking dry ice!?" (*note literal spelling used to describe the accent   
  
accuratly...like when did you last hear a Geordie or a Manchester accent??*).  
  
  
"MG Rover said they were gonna move it in early in the morning guv"  
  
  
"How early?"  
  
  
"2am"  
  
  
"And the engines?"  
  
  
"Same time guv"  
  
  
"Okay, get someone to wake up at 1am and wait like okay mate?"  
  
  
"Guv"  
  
  
Clicking the radio he ran halfway up the stairs leading to the balcony "okay now slip   
  
the belt into it's fittings, easy does it now lads" he said as his crew eased the cooling   
  
belt into the fittings around the upper belly of the Fairfax.  
  
  
From this vantage point Asuma, Noa and Ota watched carefully.  
  
  
"What is he doing now?" Noa asked.  
  
  
"Beats me" Asuma shrugged.  
  
  
"I like this man" Ota said "determined, keeps his mind on the job, attentive" he said as   
  
he folded a bit of paper into his pocket "a dedicated worker like me"  
  
  
Asuma just nodded, watching the Cheif Engineer ease in the shining metallic belts   
  
into position before easing them back out again.  
  
  
"That was his idea" Sakaki said as he climbed the stairs, his shift over.  
  
  
"What was?" Ota asked.  
  
  
"The cooling belt for the new engines" Sakaki replied "Rolls Royce said that they   
  
were going to send the new engines on the next cargo plane from Stanstead this   
  
evening GMT"  
  
  
"They're going to replace the engines?" Asuma blinked.  
  
  
"Order from on high" Sakaki shrugged as he opened a can of coffee, taking a sip "the   
  
new Miniaturised Gas Turbines have been completed so now their Patlabors are...30%   
  
more energy efficient than ours" he said after a pause, doing his sums obviously.  
  
  
"So what's that down there?" Noa asked.  
  
  
"Well apparently these Gas Turbines can get very hot, very quickly, they need   
  
controlled, eased cooling" he nodded to the metallic belts "and so McVallened there   
  
has converted the old fuel cells into a cryogenic cooling belt, utilizing spare energy   
  
capacity to keep the belt frozen and cooling the engines"  
  
  
Noa nodded and went 'ah', Ota listened attentively like he usually did when listening   
  
to someone he respected like Sakaki, Asuma though just looked at the swarm of men,   
  
like a representative of the Emperor surveying a party of Barbarians who had sailed   
  
half way round the world to trade for Gold. He smiled; they were just like Sakaki's   
  
men; honest and hard working, they got the job done.   
  
  
Well that was the impression he got after watching them for five minutes.  
  
  
****  
  
  
Gallagher stepped into Goto and Shinobu's office, holding several scraps of paper,   
  
Williams had come along too, wanting a nights sleep in the accommodation block on   
  
the landfill.  
  
  
"I verify the handover, Section 2 is now on standby" Goto said as he saluted Shinobu   
  
(who was handing over to Goto).  
  
  
"That's one thing I never understand here" Gallagher said as he walked in "the   
  
amount of saluting, you'd think the bloody army's taken over"  
  
  
Shinobu smiled "its just how we do things over here" she said as she took off her hair   
  
band, shaking free her brown hair "much more formal"  
  
  
"I don't see anything formal in those flip flops" chuckled Gallagher looking at the   
  
'inspired' selection of footwear that Goto had chosen.  
  
  
"Ah, I have athletes foot, had to have good ventilation"  
  
  
"Oh come on" Shinobu laughed "you've had Athletes foot for over a year now, or so   
  
you say"  
  
  
"What can I say?" Goto shrugged with a smile "Recovery takes a long time here in   
  
Tokyo"  
  
  
"In any case, I'm going to bed" Shinobu yawned "I've got a long, long day ahead of   
  
me, don't let me interrupt anything" she said as she headed for the changing rooms.  
  
  
Gallagher watched her leave "did you get those files okay?" he asked.  
  
  
"I did" Goto nodded, holding the two files up "did Sir Andrew get the files he needed   
  
okay?"  
  
  
"He did indeed" smiled Gallagher "so much someone paid him a visit"  
  
  
"And who was that?" Goto shifted again through the files, checking a few things.  
  
  
"None other than Ayhagami" smiled Gallagher, holding up a DoCoMo engineers   
  
report "just to make sure"  
  
  
"Of what?"  
  
  
"That he's phoning the right people that's all" Gallagher said, mouth creased into a   
  
slight smile.  
  
  
"Well it has to be done after all" Goto smiled back, taking the Engineers report "I take   
  
it that Sir Andrew got this for you?"  
  
  
Gallagher nodded "he doesn't trust him, nor do I come to think of it" he said as he   
  
dumped one of the plastic mini-whiskey bottles in the bin "what do you think?"  
  
  
"He'll be useful until the time comes" Goto mused, looking in the bin "just how much   
  
did you buy on the plane?"  
  
  
"Oh got 10 of those mini-bottles, complementary" Gallagher shrugged "care to let me   
  
in on what you said?"  
  
  
Goto shook his head, tapping his nose "you'll know when you need to know, until   
  
then, get the evidence to get Aoi"  
  
  
Gallagher nodded "will do, until then, I'll get some kip" he turned, scratching his head   
  
"can you hear the work in the warehouse from the accommodation block?"  
  
  
"Kinda" Goto said, standing on one leg "it's the vibrations from the overcoming   
  
aircraft that get me though"  
  
  
Gallagher nodded and walked out of the office "see you in the morning mate"  
  
  
Gallagher nodded to Williams and Trenchard as they were leaning on the upper   
  
balcony, looking down at Macca doing his work, they nodded back without saying a   
  
word. After Gallagher had gone, they turned back to the action.  
  
  
"You'd think they'd just correct the dent in the side but ohhh no" Trenchard chuckled   
  
as he shook his head.  
  
  
"Well we can say Macca goes over the top ever so slightly" Williams grinned as they   
  
watched the engineers pack away their tools, the lights being turned off except for a   
  
couple of small lights, two engineers sat down to play a card game.  
  
  
"Waiting for the engines I see" Trenchard said.  
  
  
"I'm gonna go join them" Williams said "wanted to see what they've been up to all   
  
day" he made his way down the stairs, Trenchard stayed where he was. Asuma   
  
walked past Trenchard from where he was watching, taking notice of what the three   
  
were doing.  
  
  
"They playing Poker down there?"  
  
  
"No idea mate"  
  
  
"Man, haven't played a game of that since I joined!" He said as he raced down.  
  
  
Trenchard watched, scratching his head as Asuma found a space and a four way Poker   
  
game began, drawing in more and more punters, Noa walked up to Trenchard.  
  
  
"Mind if I join you?" she asked.  
  
  
Trenchard looked over "hey, sure, sure!" he smiled widely "I haven't seen you since   
  
Waseda! How have you been!?" he asked.  
  
  
"Oh well the usual, got sent straight here after I completed my training" she said,   
  
looking up at the Londoner "same with you huh?"   
  
  
"Yeah, still can't believe I learned how to pilot a labor, a Patlabor and learn to read,   
  
speak and write in Japanese" Trenchard fumbled with the railing "I'm amazed myself"  
  
  
"You still got your phrase book?" Noa asked, giving Trenchard a soft elbow.  
  
  
"Nah, sent it back home to my kid brother, he's into all the Anime and Manga and   
  
wants to move here" He grinned as Ota joined the game, betting his shirt in Japanese.  
  
  
"You want him to come over?"  
  
  
"He's 18 so he's either going to finish College and apply for University or finish   
  
College and move here" he looked at Noa "if you ask my opinion, I'd have him get a   
  
degree first before coming here, it's hard enough to find a job as it is, let alone without   
  
any decent qualifications"  
  
  
"Is it that bad for someone from England?" Noa blinked.  
  
  
"Well luckily we have some of the most recognised qualifications in the world"   
  
Trenchard shrugged "didn't you have that problem?"  
  
  
Noa smiled and gave a shrug herself "didn't know that you needed special   
  
qualifications to be a pilot, if I did, I'm sure Captain Goto would've gotten me round   
  
them"  
  
  
"Really?" Trenchard quirked his head.  
  
  
"Sure!" Noa smiled as she looked at a clock on the wall "well I'm going to bed" she   
  
said, turning to walk away "oh and one thing" she said, looking round "we get paired   
  
up for a practice match" she winked "and I will win!".  
  
  
With that she walked away, leaving Trenchard scratching the back of his head again,   
  
He turned to walk to his room in the accommodation block when he saw Kanuka step   
  
out.  
  
  
"Oh, Kanuka" he said "thought you went to bed?"  
  
  
"Couldn't sleep" she said "can't sleep when you keep thinking about how you're going   
  
to pay for the stuff that wasn't covered by insurance"  
  
  
"It'll be okay, trust me" Trenchard smiled, offing a warm smile.  
  
  
Kanuka paused, looking down at the table as Ota took off his shirt, much to the   
  
amusement of everyone else "Vulgar" she said under her breath as she looked at   
  
Trenchard "I'd like to apologise for what I said this morning and to thank you for what  
  
happened this afternoon"  
  
  
Trenchard blinked "w-well, I-" he said then stopped, thinking as Kanuka furrowed her   
  
brow a bit "I'm sorry as well, I shouldn't have run off like that, you were the superior   
  
there, I should've listened to you" he smiled a bit "and as for the..thing this afternoon,   
  
I think you had things well in control" he put his hand out "freinds?".  
  
  
Kanuka took it firmly, shaking it "freinds" she said quietly, an ever so slight smile   
  
forming through her Stainless steel exterior, she then turned "I'm going back to bed"   
  
she yawned "see you tomorrow morning".  
  
  
Trenchard was now very confused "night" he chuckled nervously before turning for   
  
bed himself, not wanting to be ambushed by anyone else tonight. The job at hand   
  
would have to wait another 8 hours before going back on track. 


	9. The Story of the Charmless Export Model ...

"Guv" came a voice from outside the hangar.  
  
Macca was checking over the leg stability systems of the Fairfax, looking from where he was (kneeling by one of the leg joints) he could spy a group of people, mostly packed with people from his group with the rest from the Japanese techs. All though were scratching their heads.  
  
"What is it?" Macca asked as he got up and walked outside into the frosty (if very cloudy) sunlight, the scene that greeted him brought him joy mixed with pure dismay.  
  
The Gas Turbines had arrived. The problem was however that they had arrived in a large, blue shipping container and (more to the point) was dumped right in the middle of the wasteland separating the main buildings and the perimeter fence.  
  
"Why in the bloody hell is this thing doing here? Macca shouted, blinking again and again at the crate as it sat there in the frozen mud.  
  
"They delivered it during the night guv" replied one of the Engineers.  
  
"Then why didn't you tell them to dump it in the Hangar like I told you to!"  
  
"We thought that they were coming at two am, they didn't deliver it until six" continued the engineer, a sheepish look on his face "we kind of went to bed at four"  
  
Macca rubbed his head frantically "I did not bloody well fly 3000 odd miles just to have a nervous breakdown" he shouted.  
  
"Interesting taste" Sir Andrew mused on as he chewed on some pocky "do they have this in strawberry at all?"  
  
The Embassy had calmed down since the events of the previous couple of days. The worry wasn't so trying to eliminate a possible threat to the Labour Expo rather to seek out two known IRA bomb makers.  
  
"What we really needed to know is the situation between us and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police agreed between you and the Government?" Gallagher asked as they sat at the table of the main conference room.  
  
"I take it your people at the Foreign Office did speak to our people yes?" Goto played with a packet of cigs "bad sign of mismanagement if nothing has happened"  
  
"We agreed a framework, on which DCI Gallagher would do the investigation work while the Tokyo Police would make the arrests" Sir Andrew clarified after shuffling through a file.  
  
"Which means me?"  
  
"Your are Mr. Goto of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police are you not?"  
  
There was a short silence, Sir Andrew looked through a file or two before looking back up, thinking that by some form of magic the pair had vanished "I'm due back in London in 48 Hours gentlemen, is there anything else I can do for you?"  
  
"We need a person to help negotiate a couple of things with the City Council" Gallagher said uneasily.  
  
"We would do it through my channels, but this looks too dirty"  
  
"Way too dirty"  
  
"Dirty?" Sir Andrew stared "so why did you automatically associate 'dirty' with myself?"  
  
"We didn't, we felt you had the bigger clout here out of us three so."  
  
"You could bypass myself and contact the City Officials through a private channel," Goto said, looking out of the window. Rain.  
  
"But what do you want me to do? Invite them over for tea and cucumber sandwiches?" Sir Andrew was getting tired of this "why do you want me to contact the City Authorities?"  
  
Gallagher pulled out a tatty map of Tokyo. It was covered in red and black marker dots and circles.  
  
"Here" he pointed at a section of map "there is an intersection here, the traffic lights here need to be changed to red at a certain time to be determined"  
  
"That's it?" Sir Andrew looked at Gallagher with a raised eyebrow "you want me to call out a van load of city engineers to change the traffic lights for five minutes"  
  
"That's all I ask"  
  
"There'd probably have to be a bit of investment in this idea, perhaps more consideration in the way UK and Japanese companies co-operate in Tokyo" Goto was still looking at the window.  
  
"Could probably be a million or so riding on this, effects of this might change boost relations, perhaps economic fortunes" Gallagher smiled "all I need is you to get those lights turned red tomorrow, at least get me talking to them"  
  
Sir Andrew thought for a moment, he knew they had blackmailed him into a corner. He knew of the contracts that British companies had in Tokyo and vice versa, the mutual investment in subsidising exports in cars and electronics between the two nations.  
  
Sir Andrew rubbed his brow and sat back in the chair with a sigh "bloody rain" he muttered before sitting back up "right okay I'll get it done" he said, signing off a document "but you owe me one"  
  
"Sure" nodded Gallagher, a grin on his face.  
  
"See him squirm eh?" Gallagher chuckled as he drank from a bottle of water "I love making politicians squirm"  
  
"So I saw" Goto rubbed his head as they walked out of the building "tell me are all British public servants this.well resistant to outside ideas"  
  
"You ever watched 'Yes Minister'?"  
  
"I have never heard of it"  
  
"You should, it's an education"  
  
The pair reached the car after a scramble and got inside, the rain was coming down quite hard.  
  
"Heavy shower isn't it?" Gallagher remarked as Goto pulled the car out of the Embassy car park.  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"Looks like more on the horizon" he pointed "see, it's a cold front"  
  
Goto smiled " I'm in awe"  
  
"In awe?" Gallagher blinked "in awe of what?"  
  
"Of any man's ability to make conversation out of the weather!"  
  
"Oh cheers, a real bloody strong social trait that isn't it?"  
  
"What's in the case he handed to you?"  
  
"Oh this?" he opened it "this is the intelligence I needed on Aoi if I'm going to be able to predict his route tomorrow"  
  
"You're going to have to be quick, the City is going to want to get the car out of the way and get traffic flowing very quickly after you get him"  
  
"And I'll need one of your coppers to make the arrest for me" Gallagher stopped for a moment "hey you ever thought"  
  
"About what?"  
  
"Well think about it, we speak two different languages, we've both had two vastly different lives in different cultures and yet suddenly we're working together"  
  
"True but isn't this meant to be a world of globalisation, joined up thinking in a joined up world?"  
  
"Globalisation doesn't always bring joined up thinking, it sometimes bring social strife, political deadlock, possibly even violence on a regional, perhaps national scale"  
  
"What's your point?"  
  
"What we're doing, is the world exactly ready for police officers from one country making arrests in another?" Gallagher rubbed his head "ignoring extradition agreements, etc"  
  
"Is the world ready for 'joined up thinking?'"  
  
"It's a new experiment, we can't just be single nation states anymore, its not just because of multinational corporations gaining more power, its because everyone wants to join the party be it the war on drugs, the war on illegal immigration, the war on this, the war on that."  
  
Goto paused for a moment then smiled "what if we threw a war and everybody came?"  
  
"Yeah, what if?"  
  
The rain, while forming part of the conversation for Gallagher and Goto, was forming part of the despair of Macca. The Engineer had begged an already sick Trenchard to get into the Fairfax to help.  
  
"I can't even get out of my bloody futon without hitting the bucket" he groaned.  
  
"You've got a case of the Delhi Belly( mate!" laughed Williams.  
  
"Yeah or bloody bunk-a-litis2" seethed Macca as he walked out.  
  
Attempts to pull out the container from the mire had been abandoned hours ago as the engineering teams decided that ping pong would be a better choice of game rather than the rugby or football on offer by the Brits.  
  
"Hopeless eh?" it was Sakaki, having returned from a meeting to see the chaos on the field, he offered a cup of green tea "you drink tea?"  
  
"Typhoo yea" Macca nodded "never tried that though, thought it was a girls drink," he said slowly, having had problems speaking to Sakaki when they first met.  
  
Sakaki gave the cup to Macca and watched the container "we will have to wait for the rain to end, then we will give it another go"  
  
"What about the ground sir?" Macca took a sip "its too wet, we won't be able to tow it or lift it out of there as it is"  
  
"I've got the solution" Sakaki grinned as he adjusted his glasses.  
  
"Hello?" Sir Andrew sat in his seat as the Embassy car rushed him to Narita "ah! Minister how is London?"  
  
A pause. Sir Andrew peered outside at the rain.  
  
"Yes, Minister things in Japan are well in hand, rest assured my colleagues are giving it their full attention, the pair should be back in London in a few days if all goes well"  
  
The car sped up as it hit a motorway, passing a limousine bus as it went.  
  
"I understand that they want something in return for co-operation, perhaps a well placed call to the DTI would be in order?"  
  
He cringed slightly.  
  
"Come now Minister, under the foreign development act 1985 and the DTI guidelines to entrepreneurship and investment, sustainable development inside the UK depends on all ministries co-operating on giving British Business the biggest help in expanding overseas!"  
  
Sir Andrew's smile turned to a grin.  
  
"We don't need to spend money, I say we simply issue a non interest loan to cover expenses, it won't cost as much as you think Minister, if it means that British companies will be building the next round of Tokyo Skyscrapers Minister I would call it a bargain!"  
  
The leather felt oh so much more comfortable now.  
  
"Very good Minister, I will arrange the details on the flight back, I take it British Airways have on board telephones these days?"  
  
The rain had stopped finally; the evening shift was always the quietest strangely. Good time to extricate a container from the mud.  
  
"What do you think is in there?" Asuma, bored, looked out of the window at the group of engineers and a truck easing the container out of the field.  
  
"The last time I heard it was the new Engines for their Labour" Noa shrugged.  
  
There was a cheer as the container finally was lifted out and onto the back of the truck, which promptly got stuck in the mud itself from the combined weight of the truck and the container.  
  
"They don't seem to be doing well?"  
  
"Not really"  
  
Elsewhere in the place, Goto sipped some tea while Gallagher warmed his hands by the kettle. Also in the room was an Engineer from the City council.  
  
"Never knew I'd have to do this someday" the old man scratched his head "who is he again?"  
  
"He's a British Policeman" Goto said.  
  
"And why does he want the traffic lights turned red"  
  
"He wants to arrest someone"  
  
"Here?! I never knew they had the power to do that here?"  
  
"They don't, he's just going to find our man so we can arrest him"  
  
"Oh! Oh now I see" the man chuckled "well in that case, when do you want me to do it?"  
  
Goto looked at Gallagher "when do you want them to turn the lights?"  
  
"Oh sorry I thought you'd forgotten bloody English there for a moment" smiled Gallagher sarcastically.  
  
"So that's what you call it!" Goto grinned.  
  
"Very funny. I can't really tell him when to turn them, I just need him on standby" Gallagher rubbed his hands "all I know is that he goes through that intersection on the way home from work"  
  
Goto turned back to the old man "sorry he doesn't know, he wants you to stay there the whole day"  
  
"What do you mean the whole day?" the old man reacted quite angrily to the suggestion that he'd have to stand around all day "I've got a cat to look after you know!"  
  
"I understand, I understand!" Goto hushed "but we really do need this, we really would appreciate this help, we really would"  
  
The old man looked at the scruffy, grizzled look of the pair and smiled "okay" 


	10. The Story of the Charmless Export Model ...

"Ah Secretary!" the assitant secretary to the permenant secretary smiled slightly as Sir Andrew paced out of Customs at Heathrow "I trust the flight was satisfactory?"  
  
"I'm not you're Harrow schoolmaster now Kingston-Brown"   
  
"I understand Secretary" Kingston-Brown fumbled with the plethoria of folders, fine red leather ministerial books and FCO notebooks, a sea of post-it bookmarks sticking out "Minister requires your immediate prescense in the East India Room over Zimbabwe and problems over those blasted Saudis"  
  
"And the Japanese question?"  
  
"Well..um..we are still waiting for the DTI (ed: Department of Trade and Industry) to get back to us and-"  
  
"How many times did you call them?"  
  
"Twice Secretary I-"  
  
"How long ago?"  
  
"Midnight last night and again first thing this morning se-"  
  
"They have someone there 'till at least half three in the morning, why didn't you call then?"  
  
"I didn't think secretary I thought you-"  
  
"Who the bloody hell do you think I am Kingston-Brown" Sir Andrew quickend the pace to get out of the terminal and into the Ministeral car "I am Sir Robert Davies Andrew, Permenant Secretary to the Foreign Secretary not some two bit s-sodding yankie-doodle republican beltway, state department...t-toss pot* who can be bought over with cheap whisky and a Cuban Cigar!"  
  
Sir Andrew stormed into the Rover 75 along with Kingston-Brown (who was now white as a sheet).  
  
"When I say I want something immediatly, I will get it immediatly. I don't wait, I don't sit around, I go and get it" he fumed "I don't just bluntly barge in and take it like some of our transatlantic..cousins" he said for want of a better word "I get it through consensus, I get it through bartering and agreement, I make sure that the other party is at least okay with us taking it in the first place!"  
  
Kingston-Brown nodded slowly as he gripped onto the folders.  
  
"And you..you haven't even started to take let alone do what I have just described myself!" he said in a raised tone "I'll deal with the Minister, you get on the line to the DTI and you *will* get me my deal over the subsidies, you *will* get me co-operation with our contacts with in Tokyo and you *will* get me exactly what I need" he stopped and leaned over, a glint of dissatisfaction in his eye which tarnished what was a face of perfect calm "do I make myself perfectly clear?"  
  
"Y-yes Secretary"  
  
"Splended!" Sir Andrew beamed, leaning back into his seat "Now then, shall we stop for lunch before we start our business?"  
  
The venue for lunch was decided to be a new small sandwich shop in (of all places) London's SoHo, Kingston-Brown had suggested noodle bar Wagamama but Sir Andrew declined, having declared that he have had enough of of the Far East (or any east for that matter) after this Tokyo business had finished.  
  
"Thank god Hong Kong and Maccau have gone" Kingston-Brown said as he jotted down another set of notes before tucking into his Chicken and Bacon Bagguette "mmm..anyway why are we in a hurry to complete the deal with Tokyo then?"  
  
"Easy" Sir Andrew nibbled from his turkey stuffing baguette "we have got a serious problem that will probabbly happen within the next 24 hours"  
  
"The pair?"  
  
"Yes, the pair, I spoke with the minister directly on the flight home" Sir Andrew said rubbing his brow before taking another bite out of the baguette "apparently the Home Secretary has leaked last night that MI5 have discovered that our quarry are about to escape Japan, total pandemonium in Fleet Street apparently for tomorrow's papers and what not"   
  
"You're not going to tell them?" Kingston-Brown said as he flicked through Cabinet minutes "it'll be very damaging for inter ministrerial relations"   
  
"I know, I know, thats why we need to prod Gallagher in the right direction before its too late" Sir Andrew took another hearty bite "otherwise we'll be looking for the resignation proceedure" he smiled darkly "en masse"  
  
***  
  
"Steady...steady.." Macca was now covered in mud, soaked "keep pulling..gently like"  
  
"And just how do you classify 'gently' in a labor?!" Trenchard rubbed his eyes, still a bit ill as he pulled back slightly. The engineering crew watched as the trucks wheels fought against the mire, still stuck.  
  
"Didn't the Germans get stuck like this in Russia?" Williams thought out loud as he watched the ongoing specticle with the assembled crowd, watching it all through their lunchbreak.  
  
"How long has it been now?" Asuma remarked "four hours?"  
  
"I counted five" Noa piped up in Japanese.  
  
"Yeah" Kanuka nodded "five"  
  
The truck started to move, the black (and mud) clad engineers cheered as they saw victory within their grasp.  
  
"Steady there like" Macca said slowly into the mic as he watched the display from a makeshift Fairfax display "don't pull too hard"  
  
"I'm trying to get the balance beleive me" can the reply "just a little more.."  
  
Whatever the reason for taking a step back as he pulled, it was a poor one. The huge mud bath caused by the movement of men and machinery around in circles in such a concentrated space created an enviroment that labors simply wern't designed for.  
  
"So we've learned that we can't bloody take labors in on the sodding western front then like?" Macca said as they surveyed the mud covered truck being checked over in the hangar. He cringed at the poor Fairfax, laying back on the mud as the clouds started to part covering it with lush Far Eastern sun. It looked as though it was sunbathing, a giant German being a bit overzealous with where it went to sunbathe.  
  
"Well, I'm sure the Royal British Legion** will be very happy to tell that to its Great War vets" Gallagher chuckled "ooo I'm sorry Major McDouglas but apparently Labors are a tad finicky in the wee mud there sir, they'd be noo help on tae western front I'm afraid!"  
  
"Yeah yeah enough of Rab C Nesbit please***" Macca rubbed his face "I've got a Labor t-" he held his head "oh christ, got a bloody headache like guv"  
  
"Ah! Caught a cold eh?" Sakaki came in, also covered in mud "we're going to drag the thing to the edge and raise it" he looked at Macca's pupils "you look like you need to lie down"  
  
"Well..at least you'll now how much stress your Cheif engineer can take" Goto shrugged.  
  
"Well that rules him out of the operation" Gallagher sighed, looking to Trenchard "We need one person to perform the arrest, preferably a male and if you've got someone who did his rounds as a beat copper that'd be great?"  
  
"Just for the afternoon?"  
  
"Well we don't have any choice, we have an opening of between 1pm to about 5pm"  
  
"Thats what the intelligence suggests?"   
  
"Thats what it seems to suggest anyway" Gallagher held up a folder "the surveilence information that the good Permenant Secretary aquired for us and police reports"  
  
Outside it appeared that it was now a truck attempting to recover the Labor that was meant to recover the truck.  
  
***  
  
"Here is the plan" Gallagher pointed a a simplified map pinned up with magnets on the whiteboard "our target is driving a Daihatsu Move" he tapped the pen on the middle of the map "he will drive through this crossroad, he drives through here every day to get to his place of work"  
  
"The car itself is stolen, the plates have been changed and might have been changed today for all we know" Goto continued "The Tokyo City Council authorities have been very happy to co-operate with the joint police authorities and will help by changing the traffic lights to red"  
  
"The heavy traffic will trap our man and then we'll hit him" Gallagher smiled, looking to the three chosen people sitting before him "what did you do before you joined us?"  
  
"Me?" Williams blinked "um, did a couple of years for Kent Police before transferring to the Met guv"  
  
"And you?" Gallagher continued.  
  
"Err, I did my first couple with the Met in Hackney, then I moved to Brixton Police station as a Community Liason Officer, I also worked with Thames Valley Police in Enfield****"  
  
There was a pause. Gallagher looked to Goto, and nodded to the third person.  
  
"Oh" Goto looked "Ota, what did you do before you joined us?" he asked in Japanese.  
  
"Why I did my beat at Nakano Station busting some heads before I joined the Riot Squad sir!" Ota said proudly. He was reading the breifing in a translated document.  
  
Goto turned back to Gallagher "he served with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police without incident"  
  
"Well" he smiled "We won't have much time, I'm well rehersed with the procedure of how to get a man out of a locked car"  
  
There was quite a silence, just how do you get a man (who dosen't really want to go anywhere with the police anyway) out of a locked car? Gallagher took a pen and drew a simple car on the whiteboard.  
  
"Pay attention lads" Goto was now providing translation as Gallagher spoke.  
  
***  
  
Those words echoed in Trenchard's head, his eyes still kind of wide, his palms were drenched with sweat as he watched from his seat at a Cafe on the intersection.  
  
"Stop staring for christsakes!" Wills hissed as he sipped his coffee.  
  
"This wasn't in training back home I'm sure of it mate" Trenchard said slowly "and the way that Japanese bloke grinned" he shivered.  
  
"Maybe he liked the plan"  
  
"That much?!" Trenchard looked at Wills "it looked as though the lad gets cheap thrills from beating up bad guys!"  
  
"Nah it ain't that bad" Wills looked over at Gallagher, he was reading a copy of the Japan Times as he leant against the wall. It was three pm as the scene set on some busy intersection in Ebisu. All were in plain clothes and all were waiting.  
  
"Where is Captain Goto?" Wills looked about "wasn't he meant to be watching just in case something went wrong?"  
  
Ota himself was himself reading a book at a Cafe across the street, the pavement was thick with people so it was quite difficult for Trenchard to make him out.  
  
"Bloody hell, if guv screws this up and that bloke gets out of the car or something?"  
  
"He won't, we'll be right on top of him before anything happens" Wills smiled "he's done this a thousand times"  
  
Gallagher looked up from his paper down the road from the intersection, there he was. Aoi was driving slowly with the flow of traffic.   
  
"All units, get ready" Gallagher said slowly into his receiver. Goto said something in Japanese, Trenchard couldn't understand it, he saw someways off to the north of the junction were was a van parked at the side of the road, through the crowds he saw two men mucking around with a bunch of cables in the ground leading up to the set of traffic lights at the intersection. As the yellow move drove slowly past Ota and Gallagher, the lights turned red.  
  
Gallagher dumped the paper in the bin next to him "All Units go go go!" he said quietly waving Ota to follow as he paced quickly through the crowds on the pavement.  
  
"Thats our call" Wills said, getting up, discreetly pulling out his steel baton as he pushed through the crowd, Trenchard reluctantly following.  
  
Gallagher ran through the now stationary traffic, all traffic lights had gone to red. Goto had told him that he had three minutes max to get Aoi out of the car before normal service was resumed. A tow truck on standby. He pulled out his steel baton, Ota right behind him as he sprinted up to the car. As he drew close the reverse lights flashed on.   
  
"Bugger!" Wills cursed as he navigated his way through the maze of cars "Aoi's seen him"  
  
Gallagher didn't seem to mind now the Daihatsu was moving backwards and forwards, damaging cars in front and behind, he did mind that there was a passenger in the car.  
  
"Sort the bloody wifey out!" he shouted to Ota, pointing at the now distressed female occupant of the front passenger seat, drawing back his baton he struck out at the upper right corner of the window. Several cracks appeared and then the glass shattered and then it smashed.  
  
"Get out of the bloody car!" he shouted as he cleared the glass from the edges "I know you can speak english you prat now get out or I'll bloody drag your arse out!"  
  
Aoi, quite shocked at the first smash, was distracted by Ota smashing the other window and getting the door open.  
  
"I told that idiot!" Gallagher fumed as Wills got to the car "not to waste time with the door!" he dived through the window, delivering a sharp punch to Aoi's jaw before getting his hands on the seatbelt "now help me get him out of here!"  
  
The car rocked as Wills grabbed onto Aoi's neck and with Gallagher holding his waist the struggling EDA operative was pulled through the window, the horn sounding once, maybe twice, gathering more and more attention to the bunch of western gangsters car jacking a poor Salaryman.  
  
"Goto we've got him" Gallagher said as Wills took Aoi, trying to push him to the street, Trenchard was in tow "get the tow truck here a-" he paused "wait.."  
  
Wills and Trenchard were confronted by what looked like a gathering group of unhappy people. Gallagher had forgotten to add the fact that they were foreigners in a different country.  
  
"What do you think you are doing!" one man said angrily in broken English to Williams.  
  
"We're police, this man is a terrorist, we are arresting him" Williams said, rather unsteadily as Aoi struggled.  
  
"They're kidnapping me! Help!" shreiked Aoi in Japanese "do something!"   
  
"Shut up!" barking in Japanese, Ota caught up with the lady in tow, taking out his badge and ID card "I'm an officer of the law here, stand back!"   
  
"Oh yeah?" the man said, also in Japanese "any man can make a mickey mouse badge!"  
  
"Yeah which station you from?!" another shouted.  
  
"I'm with the Mobile Police!" he pointed to Wills "these two are British policemen apprehending a dangerous terrorist!"  
  
"He's right" Goto said as he got out of a car, his uniform showing beneath his overcoat "now lets just calm down ladies and gentlemen, we need to wait for the local police to take him away anyway Ota"  
  
"Cheers" he sighed, turning off his Radio and then wincing "oh bastard! I cut my hand on the window"   
  
"Well we could've just arrested him when he left the car where he worked"  
  
"Nah, doing it this way, he had nowhere to go" Gallagher smiled as the familiar sirens became louder and louder "always worked a charm in Ulster"  
  
"I suppose this was something people in Ulster had to get used to I suppose"  
  
"Hey when you see everything from armed rebellion to bombs to troops on the street, a couple of blokes dragging a man out of a car through it's door window dosen't raise an eyebrow lemme tell ye!" Gallagher chuckled.  
  
Goto just watched as the police took Aoi and the lady away in their car. Slowly making their way down the street in the thick traffic as the traffic lights resumed their business.  
  
Life went back to normal.  
  
"Sir they took them to the local precinct station!" Ota said.  
  
"How was Aoi?" Goto asked.  
  
"Just a burst lip, a small cut from the flying glass, thats all"  
  
"Excuse me?" a couple of people stood behind Goto and Gallagher.  
  
"Yes, uhm" Gallagher turned around, not liking what he saw.  
  
"Freinds of yours?" Goto asked, a puzzled look on his face.  
  
"BBC News Tokyo, we were going to ask what you were doing just now" the first man smiled, the other had a microphone, obviously BBC Radio "is this the new British overseas policy?"  
  
***  
  
"Check all systems, make sure everything is water proof and then wash it!" Sakaki said to the British Engineer, his english was getting better.  
  
"I just got a call from Ota!" Asuma put the phone down as he watched the Fairfax being cleaned off in the hangar from their vantage points in the office.  
  
"How did it go?" Kanuka asked.  
  
"What did they do?" Noa hmphed "Ota's so lucky getting picked to go out into Tokyo"  
  
"Didn't you know what they did?" Kanuka grined.  
  
"Nope" Noa shook her head.  
  
"They went carjacking" Kanuka smiled.  
  
"No way!"  
  
"Yep" Asuma nodded "where they got the authorisation for that kinda thing is a mystery"  
  
"Then Gallagher nearly punched a British reporter, had to get restrained by Goto and a few other people"  
  
Noa kept shaking her head, she didn't want to know what these crazy Brits were up to now.  
  
"Yeah, I think we know what they think of the press in England now" Asuma said, watching   
  
****  
  
Sir Andrew smiled as he sipped his tea, he was quite a relaxed chap now since he arrived home from tokyo.  
  
"Its done"  
  
"They got him?" Kingston-Brown looked up from his papers as he placed them on the desk.  
  
"They should find out within the next 48 hours where the pair are now"  
  
"MI6 said they tracked them on an outbound flight to Singapore"   
  
"They should be in London or Manchester quite soon"  
  
"Will this Gallagher be on their heels?"  
  
"I bloody hell hope so" Sir Andrew sighed "this whole adventure has cost us quite alot, it'd be a rather large white elephant if it was found that the pair slipped into Ireland through the UK after all"  
  
"Yes..it would rather sir"  
  
----  
  
###Please scroll past Author's notes for Chapter notes.###  
  
Author's notes:  
  
Basically this is the part I have been waiting to do for about a year. I originally thought of it after hearing some of my dad's stories about his tour of Ulster.   
  
I had it all planned out in my mind since November 2002 but have only now just put it to paper, this is the millionth mental revision and final draft and suprisingly it worked just fine first time.   
  
I was also quite interested in expanding the character of Sir Andrew. An object of calm in normally turbulent seas, I wanted to show his dark side in my (probbably inaccurate) portrayal of the British Civil Service Machine.  
  
All in all the end will probabbly come quite soon, I hope you've enjoyed it up till now. I am quite happy to say that I'll be giving the whole fic an overhaul as soon as its finished, will probabbly confer with other writers such as Nagumo who have far greater experience in both the Anime and Manga sides of the Patlabor universe in order to give TCPL the decent and accurate storyline it deserves.  
  
Cheers!  
  
Pud.  
  
####  
  
Chapter Notes:  
  
* Sir Andrew's reference isn't actually against the average american itself, its his frustration of him (a life long independent civil servant) having to deal with party political appointments which change every 4-8 years who have little or no experience of the outside world of international affairs. One British Civil Servant once remarked that there was no differnce between how civil servants in America or the USSR were appointed apart that "One side has a lust for money bordering on the extreme and the other likes the vodka a bit too much". Although this is a heavily simplistic way of looking at it, from what I have read, dealing with a Republican is like dealing with a hyperactive child suffering from tourettes syndrome so I sympathise with the current leaders of the world who have to put with with Republicanism.  
  
** Gallagher refers to the Royal British Legion, the British branch of the Commonwealth War Vets Charity and support organisation. He then goes on to refer to the Great War (WWI), joking of how the labors of today would probabbly fall apart in the mud and blood of the battlefields of Pachendale, the Somme and Ypres (sp).  
  
*** Rab C Nesbit is a classic BBC Comedy about a drunk Glaswegian. Because the dialect was in total glaswegian, it was very hard for anyone outside of even Glasgow to understand it. A challenge for even the hardiest of linguists.  
  
**** To clear up the confusion, London actually has three police forces. In the 'square mile' (or the financial district or oldest part of London right in the very centre) you have arguably the very original police force in the world, the City of London Police. This is ringed on the outside by The Metropolitan Police (this force too also argues that it is the oldest force in the world, hence why it is allowed to be called *The* Metropolitan Police and not just The London Metropolitan Police partly because of good old British arrogance and partly because it'd be silly for a city that has three police forces to have a name that conflicts with at least one of the other forces (i.e. The City of London Police) it'd be like having the New York Police Department and the New York Metropolitan Police Force or something). Then on the outskirts of London you have Thames Valley Police which actually has it's HQ in Oxford of all places, 70 odd miles west of London in Oxfordshire, as the name suggests it's beat covers the River Thames into London by curiously only the Western side of London; it dosen't cover the Thames on the Eastern side of London. 


	11. The Story of the Charmless Export Model

"Interview starting at time fourteen thirty-three GMT" Gallagher looked at his watch, half past eleven at night. The interview room at the precinct station was quite a strange one. Gone were the usual panic strips, tamper proof tape recorders and CCTV cameras covering all sides of the room. In were the bare wooden chairs, large table, bright fluorescent lighting and a small mobile cassette recorder.  
  
"Officers present, Detective Chief Inspector Gallagher and Detective Sergeant Wilkinson of the Vehicle Crime Unit" Gallagher noted, "also in attendance representing the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, Assistant Inspector Kiichi Goto"  
  
Gallagher looked across at his prey "now Mr Nakumoto" he began looking through the bulky file as Aoi looked back nervously "before we begin, I would just like you to state your full name for the purpose of the tape please"  
  
Aoi looked back blankly, arms crossed a swollen lower lip evidence of the cut caused by Gallagher's right hand cross.  
  
"We know you speak English Mr Nakumoto" Gallagher looked back at him.  
  
"We know allot about you" Wills said with a smile.  
  
"Never got anything from the British Spooks before but trust me Mr Nakumoto they are very through" Goto said, taking a puff from his cigarette.  
  
Aoi sighed and looked to the empty chair next to him "do I get a lawyer?"  
  
"Oh no this isn't a proper interview Mr Nakumoto" Gallagher scratched his head, his coat still on as he leaned forward, resting his elbows onto the large table "we're having a quick chat"  
  
"And we just would like to find out a few things about your contacts with the Real IRA if you don't mind sir" Wills took the file and read through it.  
  
Aoi shook his head. Gallagher turned to the tape "for the benefit of the tape the suspect has just shook his head, possibly in disbelief" he turned back "now common lad, tell us your name"  
  
"Aoi Nakumoto..or Nakumoto Aoi" he smiled sarcastically "depending on which policeman is going to arrest me"  
  
"And do you have any links to the Real IRA?" Gallagher asked.  
  
Goto leaned back out of the conversation, almost moving to the sidelines to watch the play begin.  
  
"None that I can think of Officer" Aoi said immediately "any meeting with such people is purely accidental I would say"  
  
"So you acknowledge that you know they exist?" Wills said, looking up from the file.  
  
"Of course I do Officer" Aoi nodded "I watch the news like any other citizen"  
  
"And how about the EDA" Gallagher rested his chin in his hands, watching Aoi closely "y'know 'down with the Babylon Project second phase, down with the Thames Estuary project, etc"  
  
"Again officer I watch the news, I am fully aware of them" Aoi lifted his head up a little higher, almost looking at the DCI with a touch of contempt.  
  
"For the benefit of the tape I am now showing Mr Nakumoto a file released by the British Security Services" Wills said, handing the sheet of paper over to Aoi "take your time sir"  
  
Aoi read the document, indeed taking his time as he read it over before nodding, still looking a bit uncomfortable and offended that he was here in the first place.  
  
"Mr Nakumoto that is a file released by the Security Services to us after a surveillance operation named 'Woodpecker'" Gallagher began, he too was taking his time "it lists yourself and five other Japanese ex pats who live in the United States and the United Kingdom"  
  
"I do live in the United Kingdom yes" Aoi nodded "I work at the partner of a Anglo-Japanese Accounting and Law firm"  
  
Gallagher nodded "suspect is now being shown five photos out of the set also released by the British security services" Wills handed them over "they show the suspect with several figures who are identified to be Gerry O'Farrel, Danny Curran and Shinji..Ikeda?" he looked to Goto who nodded slowly.  
  
"The first two are the confirmed members of the inner circle of the Real IRA and Mr Ikeda is the European representative of the EDA" his grin widened "now Mr Nakumoto could you please explain why were you meeting these people in London earlier this year?"  
  
Aoi took a deep breath, a drop or two of sweat evident on his forehead as he took his glasses off.  
  
"We also have more documents seized in a recent raid of properties in Richmond, London which allegedly put you as the go between and treasurer of the group which comprises of members of the Real IRA and the EDA Mr Nakumoto" Wills added.  
  
Aoi rubbed his eyes "I don't understand Officers I-"  
  
"Come on Mr Nakumoto" Gallagher said, "suspect is now rubbing his eyes and seems to be in some visible distress".  
  
"Mr Nakumoto" Wills leaned forward now "our government has been in discussion with the Japanese government over extradition" he said slowly. "You understand that if you do refuse to admit to anything we will go through with extradition to the United Kingdom on charges of supporting and conspiring to commit acts of terrorism"  
  
Aoi nodded, visibly shaken as he looked at the proof laid before him.  
  
"However while extradition is now certain, we can cut a deal for you Mr Nakumoto, we can make sure that you are well cared for" Gallagher kept his smile "do you want your lawyer?"  
  
Gallagher shook his fist with a chuckle "got the bastard!"  
  
"I was quite surprised" Goto smiled slightly as the trio walked slowly down the hall towards the exit to the public area of the station "none of that would be admissible as evidence"  
  
"Yep" Gallagher smiled "but its a bluff, as long as he says he'll grass on his mates in the proper interview, that doesn't matter" he said as he held up the piece of paper "and I have this"  
  
Goto and Wills looked at it and nodded, remembering what had happened next in the interview room.  
  
"For the tape, suspect if writing something down on a piece of paper" Gallagher watched Aoi with curiosity, he looked over at Aoi and saw what he was doing "interview ending fourteen forty-five" he stopped the tape.  
  
"Here" Aoi said pushing the piece of paper "this is all you need, the Irishmen, they left today bound for London Heathrow"  
  
"When?" Wills said, "when did they leave?"  
  
"Early this morning" Aoi said, wiping the sweat off of his forehead "please do not say my name in this business, I am in great danger as it is"  
  
"Yes Mr Nakumoto, this is off record" Gallagher smiled as he took the piece of paper. On it was an address in Greater Manchester in the North West of England "thank you sir".  
  
Wills chuckled "the idiot, he's going to get extradited anyway"  
  
"Well that's his problem I guess" Goto shrugged "Of course you can re interrogate him back in the UK"  
  
"Which is what I intend to do" Gallagher grinned,  
  
As they walked into the main public reception, a young policeman came out behind then.  
  
"Captain Goto" he said in Japanese "an urgent phone call for you"  
  
"Ah! Can't escape work for one minute can you?" Goto smiled, putting his cigarette out and turning "I'll see you back before you leave for the airport"  
  
"Sure" Gallagher nodded "right fits poppin'" he looked to Wills as he walked out.  
  
"Sorry Guv?"  
  
"What's going on with getting home"  
  
Wills explained as they stepped out to the embassy car about how they would have to leave the rest of the team here to complete the exhibition as planned. Gallagher and Wills however would have to go and finish their dirty work that they had started.  
  
Once at the Embassy though, there was a call waiting for Gallagher too.  
  
"Drop the extradition charges" it was Sir Andrew, quite insistent; he could see his finely woven plan being pulled apart by incompetent politicians and clean coppers.  
  
"I don't believe this" Gallagher said after a long pause.  
  
"Harry, steady the buffs now"  
  
"I spent the last few days half asleep from jet lag trying to find some wee Japanese lad who you won't extradite?"  
  
"Yes, you've done well but we know where the IRA men are" Sir Andrew tried to remain calm down the line "just get on the first plane home."  
  
"Are you ordering me?" Gallagher demanded, almost wildly demanded, keeping his voice just low enough "are you..do you even have the power to compel me to come home?"  
  
"I can't order you Harry but I can assure you that if you press forward with the extradition your position as it is now as head of your unit will become untenable if not the whole position of your unit as a whole"  
  
Gallagher blinked "y'what?" he raised his voice "stop me if I'm wrong but...are you threatening me?"  
  
Sir Andrew paused, taking a sip of his tea at his desk in the East India room of the Foreign Office "who said anything about threatening?" he smiled slightly. "Allow me to make it clear that while in the public eye the Home Office sent you here, within Whitehall everybody knows that you are a marked Foreign Office man" he said calmly.  
  
There was a pause; Gallagher thought for a moment was he bluffing? Up until now he thought his objectives had been well hidden by the Foreign Office in its battle against a Home Office hostile to any plans for a Police Labour force.  
  
"Now if you bring back Mr Nakamura or whoever the bloody hell he is I can almost guarantee you that he will be all that the Home Secretary needs to save his skin" Sir Andrew kept his voice gravely quiet. "And if by the end of the week the Home Secretary is still there, he will be looking for the scalp of the turncoat who decided to work for the Foreign Office"  
  
Now it had become clear. Gallagher put the phone down calmly and turned, scratching his head. It was a trick. The whole mess was a trick. He had now left the police in everything but name, number, position and salary. His new masters were the people at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.  
  
"So who do I owe this conversation?" Goto smiled as he sat back in the seat in the office.  
  
"Just wanted to relay a few choice bits of information" Ayhagami said, smoking from a cigarette, Bhatou kept a close watch from outside.  
  
"I'm all ears Secretary" Goto nodded, declining the offer of a cigarette.  
  
"Those British Gaijin, they never learn" Ayhagami "we have them by the balls and now they're fighting among themselves"  
  
"Well it is hardly surprising that their Trade department gets overruled by squabbles between cabinet members" Goto remarked "no stability in their politics and while King Blair is away" he looked up with a smile.  
  
"Very true Captain, but that DCI Gallagher, he isn't a fool" Ayhagami smiled back "he knows about their squabbling."  
  
"Seems like he's the last person to know" Goto couldn't help let a light chuckle slip his mouth "I've got my eye on him."  
  
"I'm sure you do" Ayhagami "I heard you have fingers in many pies."  
  
Goto looked back at the Secretary "no comment."  
  
"So what did he want?" Shinobu said as he sipped a coffee back at landfill site.  
  
"He just wanted to come to gloat. He knows I've invested time in backing whatever the hell Gallagher was doing" Goto said as he looked outside. "He just wanted to screw the UK Government out of as much money as possible, hence why he was so happy to help our initial investigations" Goto stared out of the window of their office.  
  
"I just feel sorry for the people down there" Shinobu was looking out of the window too. Below the British Engineering team were buffing and waxing their Fairfax. One man had a vacuum cleaner inside the cockpit and was cleaning some of the metal edged controls with some brasso "they're so passionate about their work."  
  
"Labour engineering transcends gender and nations" Goto broke his slight frown with a smile "that seems to be the only thing going for them these days."  
  
There was another thoughtful pause, interrupted by Gallagher knocking on the door and entering "well I'm ready and the embassy car is here to take me to the Airport."  
  
Goto turned, his smile still showing as he shook Gallagher's hand "again my apologies for not saying my farewells at the airport but as you can see, I'm on duty"  
  
"No problem, I need to get off anyway" Gallagher chuckled lightly "after all this business is over I can get you a drink if you ever come to the UK"  
  
"Deal" Goto smiled.  
  
"That goes for you too!" Gallagher nodded at Shinobu "you're all welcome anytime!"  
  
"Thank you, I wish you luck for your new unit" Shinobu nodded back and smiled with sincerity.  
  
Gallagher shook Shinobu's hand and let Goto lead him out of the office.  
  



	12. The Story of the Charmless Export Model

The day was just dawning when the British Airways flight landed at London Heathrow. The frosty air was punctuated by a small crowd of radio and tv crews outside the newly opened Terminal 4. The advertisement boards nearby for the planned east to west London cross-rail scheme were peeling after successive bouts of freezing rain, ruining what was a nice and clear winter's morning.  
  
"Over there!" said one of the several reporters having spotted a small group exit arrivals, the small crowd of reporters, cameramen and sound engineers made their way towards this small pair, flanked by a couple of suited old men.  
  
"Sir, sir!" said one reporter for ITN "do you have a comment or any further word on your outrageous activities in Tokyo?"  
  
"Have you anything to say about the comments made by the Japanese Internal Minister about your actions in the past few days?" shouted a newspaper reporter holding a voice recorder aloft.  
  
"No commen-" said Gallagher, looking very shattered from a long, long flight in Economy Class.  
  
"PM programme, BBC Radio 4 Sir, do you ha-"  
  
"I said no bloo-"  
  
"I think it is time to leave the DCI alone now gentlemen" one of the older men said as Gallagher, Wills and the two others got into a Ford Galaxy people carrier. As soon as the door shut though the quiet manner of these new men was dropped.  
  
"What in the blazes were you thinking?" said one, a tallish man of 65 in a black suit and greyish hair accompanied by a perfect Oxbridge accent "that was the streets of Tokyo not Londonderry!"  
  
"I'm sorry Sir" Gallagher just looked out of the window, possibly wondering what might have been?  
  
"I've got some bad news Gallagher" the Gallagher's old Superintendent, this one smaller and slightly younger than the first, he was in what looked like a suit fresh from Saville Row "you're being transferred."  
  
Gallagher turned to look at the two men and Wills kept his mouth shut, watching his Commander in Cheif take the flack.  
  
"What about my outfit?" Gallagher asked.  
  
"You're all being transferred out of the Transport Police" the Superintendent said sadly.  
  
"We tried to argue your case but the pressure came directly from the Home Office and onto my superiors" the older man said angrily "and you're damn silly actions didn't help matters"  
  
"They made them worse" the Superintendent nodded sadly.  
  
"So where are we being transferred to?" Wills finally spoke, looking quite worried at the prospect of having to pack all of his stuff up in his office again.  
  
"The Metropolitan Police, you are still going to be based at the new Stratford Labor Station but you are now part of the Metropolitan Police" the older man said with a grim smile "and we can't do anything now"  
  
Gallagher looked at the older man strangely "I'm sorry Sir, but who are you?"  
  
"He did introduce himself when we met at arrivals Harry" the Superintendent looked confused "Superintendent James Hughes, he is Transport Police's liason officer with the Security Services."  
  
Gallagher looked back at Hughes who gave a knowing smile in return. Later when Gallagher and Wills were dropped off at their temporary Office in the Transport Police Kings Cross HQ, Gallagher was struggling through mental hoops in his jet lagged state.  
  
"Liason officer my arse" Gallagher suddenly blurted out bluntly after showing his Warrant card to the reception "he's a plant."  
  
"A plant guv?" Wills asked as he pressed the 3rd floor button on the lift "by whom?"  
  
"Oh I know Wills" Gallagher rubbed his eyes "just make me a brew okay?"  
  
"Secretary!" Sir Andrew smiled "How are you? I trust everything is fine?"  
  
"It is" the Foreign Secretary threw a suspicious look at the Private Secretary "why do you ask?"  
  
"Oh just enquiring Secretary, hoping that our little disagreement a night or two ago didn't sour our working relationship?" the smile from Sir Andrew was already making the Foreign Secretary ill.  
  
"No, not in the slightest" smiled the FS weakly "and how did it go then?"  
  
"The pair have come back home, my men have just touched down in London now Secretary."  
  
"But, they were meant to have been apprehended in Tokyo"  
  
"Yes but not all plans come off a success Secretary" Sir Andrew rubbed his hands slightly "complications arose, not enough evidence, lack of juristiction you know how the Japanese are with foreign policy discussion."  
  
The FS stared, simply stared at Sir Andrew "b-but what about the Home Secretary?"  
  
"Oh. Well he knows where the pair are. They're in Manchester in an IRA safehouse, he has already authorised the security services to make arrests Secretary" Sir Andrew looked out of the window "The Home Secretary will arrest these two, and he will take all the credit."  
  
"That is absurd!" the FS spat "how can he possibly take the credit?"  
  
"Because it was not him who signed off a mission to Japan and pressurised several lesser departments to release millions of tax payers money in aid to help speed the arrest and extradition of two RIRA suspects, Secretary" Sir Andrew looked at the FS with a look that a Headmaster would give to the usual suspect who was sent up after catapaulting ink blots at a teacher.  
  
"There must be a way, some way of salvaging something from this debacle!" the FS looked up at Sir Andrew as he fell back into his leather chair, his face was white as a sheet "my head will roll for this you understand? My blasted head!"  
  
"Calm down Secretary" Sir Andrew said firmly, his face as solid as granite "everything is in hand but may I give you a word of advice for the future?" he leant forward, pouring a glass of water for the Secretary while keeping his hawkish eyes on the FS "if one wants to do a damn silly thing in the future, please don't do it in such a damn silly way."  
  
"And so this will be the main maintenance depot, enough room for up to five large labors" the contractor said as he showed Gallagher around the new Police Labor unit HQ in Stratford "and more than enough for three Fairfax Patlabors mate"  
  
"Excellent" Gallagher forced a weak smile "a perfect location for all this eh pal, with the Thames Eastury project starting in a few months"  
  
They were standing in what was going to be the maintenance depot, near enough to completion with all the fittings and maintenance equipment yet to be installed. Gallagher noticed another man walking out of the yard and into the building towards, he was dressed in a Met uniform.  
  
"Oh yes DCI Gallagher" said the policeman as he approached Gallagher, putting out his hand "Superintendent Eddie Collins, head of the Met's Riot squad."  
  
"And my new commander I understand it" Gallagher nodded and shook Collin's hand firmly "quite a cheeky smile you have there sir."  
  
"Cheeky?" Collins grinned "I would rather call it 'eccentric'" he took a look back out through the large cargo doors "quite a big space of land the Met has managed to get ahold for us, soon the rest of the administrative staff for the Riot division will move here."  
  
"Amazing how easy it is to get ahold of a few School playing fields these days Sir." Gallagher chuckled "you are your own man right?"  
  
"I bloody well hope I am!" laughed Collins "why would you think otherwise?"  
  
"I've just had a few 'career officers' rule my daily affairs recently Sir thats all."  
  
Collins kept his grin, looking more like a prankster that had been rumbled halfway through his gag than a Superintendent. He slapped Gallagher on the back "Harry, the reason why the Riot division works so well is in how I protect them. I am almost too busy but you are my man and I am my own man. End of story."  
  
Gallagher grinned back "in that case then sir, I look forward to working for you."  
  
"There!" chuckled Collin's loudly "thats the spirit! A drink to celebrate?" He turned, looking to the Contractor too "I hear Straford has a fair few good pubs nearby!"  
  
The Contractor however had to get back to installing the fittings to the new Stratford HQ. Gallagher and Collins retired a newby pub and sat down after buying a couple of pints along with some pork scratchings.  
  
"You're an interesting character Harry" Collins crunched on his pork scratchings "I've heard alot about you."  
  
"I never knew I was that well known in the rest of the police"  
  
"Oh you are, well to some of the brass anyway. Apparently your move from Transport Police was quite wasn't just a move to re-organise" Collins looked at his pint of beer "apparently it was approved at the very top. The people right at the top put pressure on us to move you."  
  
Gallagher didn't look suprised "I'm just a wee pawn in some bigger game" he sipped at his pint "the players want to keep an eye on me, make sure I don't cause trouble, especially since this RIRA business has finished."  
  
Collins leaned back, regarding the DCI for a momment before leaning forward "let me work some branches" he said quietly before crunching on some more Pork Scratchings.  
  
"Have you lost a tooth yet?" Gallagher looked at the bits of pork rind which made the sound of sand and iron filings being crunched every time Collins put some in his mouth.  
  
"Not yet, why?"  
  
"No reason."  
  
Sir Andrew waited outside the office inside the deceptive building that was Number Ten, Downing Street. He browsed portfolios, made mental calculations in his head and generally thought of a way out of this mess. It might be obvious to quietly suggest that the Japanese government and industry had defrauded the British Taxpayer of millions of pounds but what would that acheive?  
  
Washing dirty laundry in public never brought any results in and in this case it would only bring investigation by a flood of bodies. From Commons Select Committees all the way through to the WTO itself the UK would be censured and the horrible truth would come out.  
  
Another way presented itself in Sir Andrews mind however. One which would save the Foreign Secretarys neck (for now). And this is what was being discussed at the momment between the PM and the FS.  
  
A side door opened, it was the Prime Minister's Principle Private Secretary.  
  
"Alfie!" Sir Andrew smiled warmly as he got up.  
  
"Oh no, no please don't" Sir Alfred gave a cheeky grin in return "you are of course a guest" he looked around "have the catering staff not tended to you yet?" he asked, changing his look rapidly to one of worry "Francis!" he shouted loudly, clicking his fingers. Sir Alfred was an elderly yet very bloated man, obviously he had enjoyed his time as both a Public Servant and a member of one of the eldest of Cambridge's Colleges.  
  
"You really do like to spoil your departmental freinds Alfie" Sir Andrew said turning to the the Prime Ministerial Office Intern as he scampered up the stairs, looking haggared "Yes Sir?"  
  
"It is five past five in the evening Andrew" Alfred looked at his pocket watch "do you want something to eat or a glass of sherry?"  
  
"Sherry would be wonderful!"  
  
"Sherry it is then" he turned to the Intern with a stern look on his face "well! Get to it man!"  
  
"They never learn do they?" Sir Andrew chuckled lightly "Oh the aspirations of modern youth."  
  
"Yes quite, blasted American Students on work experience!" Sir Alfred snorted "come over here, spouting their Yale, Neo Liberal claptrap."  
  
"They'll learn Alfie."  
  
"They'll have to, they simply can't their affiars with those kinds of attitudes!" Sir Alfred said grumpily as he took his glass of sherry from the intern along with Sir Andrew "Enough of today's youth!" he turned to Sir Andrew "to our good health!" He toasted "and what brings you here?"  
  
"Ah the usual, the everlasting struggle to prise victory from the time old jaws of defeat Alfie." Sir Andrew said as he clinked glasses with Sir Alfred.  
  
Sir Alfred looked sadly at Sir Andrew "has your pet been causing bother again?"  
  
"Sadly yes" Sir Andrew nodded, taking a slight sip "I've curtailed any serious damage but we still need to make sure nothing else serious happens."  
  
"And that is why he is meeting with PM now?"  
  
"Exactly why he is meeting with PM now."  
  
Sir Alfred smiled and took a gulp from the sherry "I can assure you Andrew that any proposal your department makes in light of the current difficulties will be smiled upon by the PM."  
  
Sir Andrew smiled back "I thought as much, I can assure you that the PM can rely on the FS's support in the future beyond the election."  
  
Sir Alfred chuckled deeply "And that is why our departments have such good relations Andrew" he took another sip "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours."  
  
"Very good Alfie" Sir Andrew nodded in agreement "I am delighted that we agree on such sensitive issues, especially when British trade is at stake?"  
  
"Oh?" Sir Alfred raised an eyebrow "do go on Andrew."  
  
"Ah just another round of investment opportunities squandered thanks to the deception and frankly fraudulent activities of a few..bad apples in the Far East."  
  
"Quite" nodded Sir Alfred, looking at Sir Andrew's face "very 'sinister' indeed."  
  
"And well, we just simply cannot stand back, I reccomend that the Department for Trade and Industry block Japanese competition in domestic contracts, say for the financial year starting in a few months" Sir Andrew sipped some more Sherry "just minor cuts in contracts here, prevention of investment in companies there, targeted strikes Alfie."  
  
Sir Alfred thought for a second before smiling broadly "I can push that through" he chuckled "give me a day and a half and it will be given the Prime Minister's blessing."  
  
The evening began with a phonecall. It shook Gallagher awake. Well it shook Gallagher out of staring at the ceiling.  
  
"Harry?" it was Collins "You might want to get up and get dressed pretty damn sharpish."  
  
"I'm off duty sir" mumbled Gallagher, rubbing his eyes before seeing that the telephone receiver was the wrong way around "can it no wait?"  
  
"Not really, I got word back from my pals at the NCS. They're going to hit a safehouse in Manchester and I..oh I got you onto the task list."  
  
Gallagher's eyes shot open "where do I go?"  
  
"You'll need to travel to Manchester and report in at the Central Police HQ. There'll be a man there to put you on the raid team" Collins explained "you're just a spectator though, you're not the arresting officer okay?"  
  
That was all Gallagher needed, he left his flat near the affluent developments of the London Docklands and grabbed a taxi.  
  
"What? Now?" Wills blinked, rubbing his eyes "but its seven in the evening, I need some sleep after that flight guv."  
  
"Euston at seven thirty or you're off the division" Gallagher snapped into the mobile before calling off, leaving a rather exhausted Wills sitting up in bed.  
  
"Who was that darling?" came a voice beneath the covers, it was his girlfreind. In the background Beck played gently over the chilled waves of air comming in through a vent in the bedroom.  
  
"Nothing Jen, nothing just business" Wills yawned, getting out of bed "listen love I have to go to..Manchester"  
  
"But you're off duty!" Jen blinked "for christ sake Will can't you stay still for a sodding momment?!"  
  
"Sorry babe" Wills said, putting on a fresh suit and grabbing his wallet and warrant card "I'm a copper" he winked at Jen, giving her a smooth kiss "its what I do."  
  
"Evening, MG Rover, Heavy Rover heavy research department, Chris speaking."  
  
"Is that what they call ye now like Chris?" Macca rubbed his free hand on a teatowel, getting a scowl from one of the Japanese engineers as he mucked up the phone handle with grease.  
  
"Matt!" Chris laughed down the phone "where did you get this number mate? How you been?!"  
  
"I got the place, I'm in Japan right now would ye beleive, maintaining London's first proper Patlabor no less!"  
  
"..You mean the Fairfax?"  
  
"Aye including the Fairfax man" Macca leant back, picking up a clipboard "I need to ask a few questions that alright like man?"  
  
"Nah its alright, sorry about all the confusion, we had a couple of problems in communication with Rolls Royce Engineering."  
  
"Ye I was going to mention that" Macca looked at the Pilots report "those new miniturised turbines, they suck in air like a five pound special down the river area like mate."  
  
"Thats so you can cool the actual turbines themselves Matt." Chris pulled out the engineers breif on the Fairfax "the only way we could modify the Ingram to get the necessary air into the turbine was by slightly widening the front intakes."  
  
"Well thats all well and good mate but they're acting like hoovers."  
  
"Come again?"  
  
"They suck up everything within sight" Macca looked outside "our pilot had to face the Fairfax upwards slightly because of the amount of dust and shrubbery it was picking up."  
  
"Ah."  
  
"And then theres tha problem about tha size of the bleedin' thing man" Macca flipped over onto his own notes "the thing is about 25% wider than an Ingram and 15% fatter thanks to the Deisel turbine engines fitted. Now we've successfully fitted the Rolls Royce gas turbines we have so much space we can fit enough Natural gas for a weeks constant running!"  
  
"Look" Chris sat back, listening "you have to-"  
  
"And then to top it all off, when we do switch the new turbines on, they cause a power surge which blow half of the circuitry" Macca looked at the pilots report.  
  
"Matt, I'm going to blunt." Chris said reading through the Fairfax breif "the Fairfax still isn't finished."  
  
"Sorry?" Macca said, blinking "crackly line over here, I thought you just said-"  
  
"That the Fairfax you have is a prototype?"  
  
"Aye yeah thats what I thought you said."  
  
"Well I'll be honest Matt, you thought right" Chris rubbed his head "we're putting the main model into production this week, when it comes out the final model Fairfax will be roughly the same dimensions and size as the Ingram."  
  
"So you just sent us the model just to get some cheap feedback on the wee product then Chris?" Macca dropped the clipboard on the desk, looking quite annoyed.  
  
"Well actually we got a call from Longbridge, they had someone from the board who really wanted us to release something, anything for the Police to use over at the Labor expo in Japan." Chris flipped through the clipboard "when they called we hadn't even calibrated the Fairfax to stand yet, let alone with the extra weight we wanted to put on the back."  
  
Macca sat and listened as Chris continued onwards, looking outside at the British Engineers waxing and buffing their Fairfax phoney.  
  
"Basically the model you have there is a very early prototype, something which we got off of Shinohara to get us going, they changed all the instrumentation and everything else over for us." Chris put the breif down, turning off his computer "if you ask me Matt mate, it wasn't a board decision at all, someone else put pressure on Rover to get something, anything out, make an excuse you know what I mean?"  
  
"My apologies for not seeing you at Heathrow Harry but I am quite media shy." Sir Andrew said over the phone. Gallagher was speaking on a mobile phone as he stood in the area between carridges as the Virgin Trains Pendolino raced it's way at 140mph up towards Manchester.  
  
"Maybe you could have told me I was being transferred in a way other than sending some slimey wee git in a suit to tell me." Gallagher looked out at the English Countryside as it flashed by.  
  
"Unavoidable I'm afraid, I was told about your transfer at the last momment, nothing I could do."  
  
"So what now?"  
  
"You are on your way up to Manchester yes?" Sir Andrew was standing by a public phone near the toilets in a resturant in Westminister "keep on what you're doing now, just do what you need to do Harry."  
  
"And then?"  
  
There was a pause.  
  
"Harry, what do you think my aims are in this all this business?"  
  
"I'd like to tell you if I had an interest in what you wanted to acheive."  
  
"Ah! You say that but in the back of your mind you must be thinking about why in the hell I have just travelled countless thousands of miles?"  
  
"Well if ye would like to tell me I would be very happy man."  
  
"Because I want to stave off decline Harry." Sir Andrew looked over at his table which was starting to fill up "One thing that me and my predecessor and his predecessor and his predecessor since the late 19th century have been doing here at the Foreign Office has been in the effort of acheiving an end to decline, a turnaround in fortune. One thing that we saw by 1890 Harry was the fact that British domination could not last forever, that as a small nation our livelihoods, no our very fortunes as a sovereign state depended on those outside of our borders. Whereas states like America and Japan can depend on their own internal markets to keep them going in times of strife, the British economy entirely depended on heavy exports."  
  
"But decline is a very loose word" Gallagher pointed out as the lights of houses flashed past "it can be used on quite a few things aye?"  
  
"Yes, it can. The decline of British Cricket, the decline of moral values, anything." Sir Andrew responded "but decline is a special word in the British psyche. It is the culmination of 100 successive years of disaster and misadventure, all of which the Foreign Office predicted but failed to prevent. We had predicted the rise of the high tech industry in Germany and the far east where the Board of Trade and the Treasury didn't. We had predicted the rise of militarism and facism in Europe which could not be confronted on our own where literally nobody else except Churchill refused to see. We saw it all come true, the ghosts of the corn laws and our dependence on dumping our goods on areas of the world which we had subjugated have come back to haunt us Harry. The poverty, war and deprevation which we had so eagerly fed upon for over 300 years has come home."  
  
"And what does all this have to do with our Japanese adventure?"  
  
"It is merely just another exercise in trying to flex what little muscle we have left. We Harry are a spent force, our energetic and creative lifeblood expended so wastefully on the fields of the Somme and Flanders, the deserts of Libya and Egypt and the jungles of Burma. Our Imperial gold lies in Fort Knox and our 'allies' abuse their leases of land on our soil like we were just another defeated nation. And among all of this decline I try and re-establish the UK as a world power like my predecessors did when in reality we have no power left at all. Time and folly has made sure of that Harry my good man."  
  
"So if we hadn't have helped, who else would? The Americans? Were we simply there to prevent the Americans from further establishing their hedgemony on the Far East?"  
  
"If you want to put it that way Harry? Yes." Sir Andrew looked back to this table "I'm terribly sorry but I am dining with my European counterparts tonight, I shall be in contact in a few months, I wish you luck and success on your new assignment."  
  
Harry and Wills had arrived in Manchester by that evening. After checking in at the central Police station in Manchester they checked into a Travelodge and got what sleep they could. The next morning at around 4am they were picked up in an unmarked van. Several men in jeans and jackets greeted them.  
  
"Morning DCI Gallagher I presume" one of the men put his hand out "DCI Weir, National Crime Squad working in liason with the Terror Branch."  
  
"A pleasure" Gallagher shook Weir's hand firmly "this is my colleague DC Williams, when do we leave?"  
  
"Immediatly" Weir banged against the cab of the transit van "its an address near the city centre, we already have an armed response unit there watching the front and one of my men watching the back. No joy so far."  
  
The van went around the City of Manchester for a scerene five minutes before turning down one of the many streets which adorned row upon row of Victorian "two up two down" terraced housing. It slowed to and then stopped "we're here guv" came a voice from the cab.  
  
"Right Jones, Davids you two with me in the front, Gallagher and Williams you want to make yourself useful?" Weir smiled.  
  
"Of course!" Gallagher's smile widened as he looked out of a small tinted window.  
  
"Great, you two go in through the back, look for a bloke in a Ford Fiesta near the middle of the street, give him a nod and he'll join you at the right momment."  
  
Gallagher opened the door and slipped out, Wills followed as Gallagher crossed the street and passed the target house. All of it's windows had their curtains closed. Nobody seemed to be in by Gallagher's reckoning. Still though they reached the end of the street and turned down the dirt track that seperates pairs of houses, faded brick walls fencing off a person's 3x6 meter strip of grass from the outside world.  
  
As he and Wills walked down the narrow dirt track they saw a battered old 1996 reg Ford Fiesta. A man slipped out of the fiesta and moved towards them, nodding to the seventh garden gate down the line. They joined at the gate.  
  
"We're still waiting on the governor" the over plainclothed officer said, listening in on his radio.  
  
"Ram ready, armed police ready" the radio crackled "Webb you ready?"  
  
"Guv" Webb said into the radio, your two spectators are here too."  
  
"Good" Weir after a pause "all units, green light, all units go go go!"  
  
"After you guv" Webb smiled. Gallagher obliged, kicking in the garden gate and rushing in, pulling out his extendable baton.  
  
What they met was a leashed up German shepard foaming at the mouth.  
  
"Jesus bloody christ!" Gallagher blinked as he jumped aback, nearly getting his hand chomped off "somebody do something about that wee bloody dog!"  
  
As Wills went at it with CS spray Gallagher looked up, curtains were ruffling as he heard the front door being knocked down with a door ram and the cries of "Armed police! Armed Police!" Gallagher ran passed the whining dog and lunged at the back door, almost breaking it off of the frame with his weight. Getting up he took a quick look around, Webb in hot pursuit. Nothing.  
  
Running through the living room and upstairs, following Weir and his oppos they all ended up in the back bedroom wheer the Armed police had cornered one of the suspects. Another fell out of the closet. Both were still in their underwear, half asleep and in serious shock.  
  
Gallagher took a long stare at the pair from his view from the landing. After thousands of miles, endless paperwork and a cut hand from breaking a car window, Gallagher had finally reached his prey.  
  
"Pity you're not the arresting officer eh guv?" Wills patted Gallagher's shoulder.  
  
( note regarding the 140mph West Coast Mainline Virgin train I am going to be kind and presume that with Labor technology, Railtrack/Network Rail could deliver a rail line with 140mph running all the way up to Glasgow from London. Hard to imagine I know but work with me here.) 


	13. The Story of the Charmless Export Model

"And that's what he said?" Gallagher sat back in the comfy new office chair looking through the glass wall that separated his office from the main open plan floor of the CID office. He had quite happily spent hours dragging a bored stiff Wills through furniture store after office store looking for that perfect office chair. In the end he opted to settle for a nice leather lounger in MFI and it fitted his budget perfectly, a perfect occasion to speak to a good friend over the telephone.

"That's what he said" Goto rubbed his eyes as he looked up at the clock. It was early and way to early for Goto to have taken over the day shift "isn't it a little late in London Detective?"

"Ten thirty PM?" Gallagher looked at his clock "aye I need to clock off sooner or later but I still get woken up if there is an emergency."

"You're still the emergency commander?"

"Aye yeah, still haven't found a crew chief for the lads downstairs since the labour division's new building was completed." Gallagher thought about picking up the cordless phone and taking it for a trip to the coffee machine. Ah the wonders of the boundless office.

"Can't fault your administrators Harry" Goto chuckled lightly "did you want to hear more?"

"Of what, the debacle?" Gallagher shook his head "I'd rather hear your take on it."

"My take?" Goto paused for a moment to sign a form on his in tray before turning his attention back to the conversation "if you want my two pennies, I think everyone on my end knew about the whole IRA/EDA thing."

"Knew it enough to manipulate it?"

"They knew enough to set a trap for your civil servant to fall into" Goto picked up his fresh cup of tea and took a long sip "I could imagine what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said to your Foreign Office 'oh by the way, they have assistance by schaft, wasn't the Home Secretary, Lord whatshisname a non executive member of the board of Schaft?'" Goto mimicked rather clumsily "'you shouldn't jump ship, don't leave Shinohara in the lurch, you might never know when it might blow up in your face'"

Gallagher couldn't help but smile. It was all a damage control exercise that blew up and it was now all in the open, the IRA/EDA link, the EDA/Schaft link, the tensions between the Home Office and the Foreign Office, everything.

"You know" Goto continued "this is truly a huge mess."

"That it is, the real bomb really did blow up in their faces." Gallagher smiled, eyeing up the coffee machine.

"There is a quote that is perfect for this Harry. What can most steer a government off course?"

"Events?"

"Exactly" Goto smiled as he eyed another Tokyo Morning "Events dear boy, events!"

End.


End file.
